UC-NRLF 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


S.  A. 


IJTICA, 


NOTES 

FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT 


NOTES 


FROM 


PLYMOUTH  PULPIT: 


Calletttim  si    tcnwraW* 


FROM  THE 


DISCOURSES    OF    HENEY   WARD    BEECHER, 


BY    AUGUSTA    MOORE. 


NEW  YORK : 
DERBY  &  JACKSON,  119  NASSAU  STREET. 

1859. 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


ENTERED  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1858,  by 

DERBY    &    JACKSON, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern  District  of  N«w  York- 


W.  H.  TINSON,  Stereotypor.  GKO.  RUSSELL  &  Co.,  Printers. 


rUBLISHEKS'    NOTICE. 


THIS  volume  is  published  not  only  without  prepa 
ration  or  revision  by  Mr.  Beecher,  but  he  is  ignorant 
of  its  entire  contents,  he  having  seen  neither  the 
copy  or  the  proof.  In  withdrawing  his  objections  to 
the  publication  of  it,  Mr.  Beecher  was  influenced  by 
the  same  generous  motives  which  prompted  him  to 
give  to  others  than  himself  the  benefit  of  his  previous 
published  works.  It  is  believed  that  the  editor  has 
faithfully  caught  the  spirit  of  the  living,  breathing 
words,  as  uttered  by  the  pastor  of  Plymouth  Church ; 
and  that  her  work  will  be  received  with  acceptance 
by  the  public. 


INTKODUCTOKY, 


THE  Notes  contained  in  this  volume  are  chiefly  from 
memory.  The  most  of  them  were  written  during  the 
years  of  1856-t — and  were  committed  to  paper  simply 
because  it  was  impossible  to  think  of,  or  to  write,  any 
thing  else  with  a  mind  so  fully  possessed  by  the  memory 
of  the  sermons  from  which  they  were  taken. 

Mr.  Beecher  is  not  responsible  for  the  contents  of  this 
volume.  There  is  no  pretension  that  the  Notes  are 
verbatim.  Whether  they  are,  in  tone  and  spirit,  like 
him,  the  public  will  judge.  But,  because  a  thing  is  writ 
ten  here,  it  must  not  be  said  to  Mr.  Beecher,  "  You 
said  that  thing,"  unless  he  chooses  to  own  it.  In  repeat 
ing  from  memory  the  sayings  of  another,  it  is  very 
likely  that  errors  may  occur.  Meanings  may  be  modified 
or  colored  by  the  mind  through  which  they  pass. 

And  yet  the  writer  has  tried  faithfully  to  give  the  true 
sense,  and,  as  far  as  memory  would  assist,  the  exact 
expressions  of  Mr.  Beecher. 

It  is  not  the  beauty  of  Mr.  Beecher's  expressions,  nor 

zi 


Xll  INTRODUCTORY. 

the  startling  and  resplendent  flashes  of  his  thought  that 
this  book  will  show,  so  much  as  his  presentation  of  simple 
and  holy  truth,  in  such  guise  as  never  fails  to  interest  and 
instruct  all  whose  notice  is  gained.  And  thousands  who 
cannot  be  induced  to  peruse  long  sermons,  will  cheerfully 
read,  and  undoubtedly  remember  the  vital  truths  illus 
trated  and  enforced  in  the  following  pages. 

The  volume  is  a  testimony  to  the  power  with  which  the 
mind  from  whence  it  sprung  influences  other  minds,  and 
of  the  nature  of  that  influence. 

A.  M. 


CONTENTS 


A 

~v  PAQB 

A  Sketch  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher xxiii 

A  Christian  like  bread 266 

Acorns  and  young  ministers 61 

Actions  based  on  feelings 46 

A  fool's  part 187 

A  general  question 228 

A  grave  for  trouble 287 

A  great  contrast » 106 

Ahab  and  Naboth 262 

All  Christians  should  be  preachers 284 

All  men  writing  books , 51 

All  truths  not  to  be  spoken  in  one  age 99 

Always  carnival  with  the  passions 177 

A  man  better  than  a  king 176 

A  man  of  war 229 

Answered  prayers 224 

Anxiety  for  friends 147 

Applying  the  knife 192 

A  prophecy  of  the  future 165 

Aristocracy  destructive  to  piety - 273 

A  singing  church ^  .  ^ 148 

A  sound  life  the  best  theology 276 

Asps  and  butterflies 35 

Assurance  of  faith 256 

18 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

B 

PAGE 

Balm  in  nature  for  sick  hearts 100 

Battlefields  of  the  world 53 

Bear  your  weight  on  God 40 

Best  way  to  teach  truth 277 

Be  sure  of  the  path 260 

Betraying  Christ  to  rhetoric 181 

Be  true  to  virtue,  honesty,  and  piety. . . 286 

Boys  in  the  limbo  of  vanity 42 

Blue  sky  in  Wall  street 250 

Bright  days  and  dark  ones 276 

Brown,  Brothers  &  Co 189 

0 

Calvinism  the  safeguard  of  freedom 83 

Camping  on  the  edges  of  sin , 105 

Carrion  natures 39 

Casting  one's  care  on  Christ 26 

Change  of  motive  and  purpose  instantaneous 291 

Christian  graces  not  in  the  Bible 283 

Christians  not  required  to  give  up  the  pleasures  of  this  life ...  77 

Christians  must  learn  to  bear  prosperity 92 

Christianity  should  rule  in  politics 226 

Christianity  too  shallow  in  churches 73 

Christ  and  the  woman  of  Samaria    71 

Christ  pardons  before  rebuking 30 

Christ  spoke  most  to  the  poor 71 

Christ  the  foundation  of  Christianity 180 

Christ  the  standard  of  perfection 239 

Christ  to  have  all 26 

Climbing  hills 285 

Come  up  hither 148 

Commentators 170 

Common  things  dearest  to  Christ 73 

Conscience  rotting 45 

Creation's  centre  jewel 186 

D 

Dark  lighthouses 114 

Deacon's  office  .                                 186 


CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE 

Dead 270 

Death  God's  call 274 

Declaring  God's  whole  counsel 52 

Descendants  of  the  Jewish  bigots 278 

Difference  between  a  Christian  and  a  worldling 220 

Discontent 66 

Doctrines 177 

Doing  evil  by  proxy „ 267 

Don't  expect  other  people's  experiences 222 

Don't  fret 56 

Duty  of  rejoicing 157 

Dyspepsia  of  books 41 

a 

Earnestness  confounded  with  solemnity 280 

Easy  working  better  than  much  working 172 

Election  and  reprobation 238 

Emasculating  religion 203 

Encouragement  to  young  Christians 280 

Escapeless  gaze  of  the  Almighty 235 

Equal  evidence  of  design  for  pain  as  for  pleasure  in  this  world  151 

Extremes  meet  in  a  common  blunder 198 

Excitements  in  religion  right  and  desirable 214 

\ 

F 

Faces 162 

Fall  of  bad  men  final 113 

Falsehood  in  love 271 

Fiddles,  men  not 154 

Fighting  faults 154 

Figure  of  the  wheat 64 

First  love  not  best 41 

Flies  of  humanity 160 

Flower  stores  of  Paris 145 

Frozen  ship  and  the  Spirit  of  God 103 

G 

Giving  one's  self  for  another 210 

God  willing  to  give  good  gifts 28 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

God,  honor  towards 29 

God  feels  our  conduct 30 

God  works  by  means 198 

God  the  servant  of  man 230 

God's  glory  his  goodness 219  and  234 

God's  hatred  of  slavery 85 

Godship  of  Christ 26 

Good  advice 195 

Good  and  bad  women 261 

Gospel,  two  views  of  the 25 

Grace  must  be  burnt  in 172 

Grace,  nature  blossomed  out 166 

Graces  growing  ripe , 168 

Gradual  growth  of  Christian  character 212 

Grain  at  the  end  of  harvest 34 

Greed  and  covetousness 268 

Greedy  for  wealth 83 

H 

Happiness  not  the  end  of  life 159 

Hatred  man's  strongest  capacity 183 

Hardness  good  for  men ' 277 

Head  faith  and  h,eart  faith  different 274 

Hell  in  the  heart 235 

Hell  real  and  necessary 104 

Heroic  women 188 

Hidden  troubles  worst. . 233 

Horror  of  death 194 

Hours  like  sponges 104 

How  to  think  of  heaven 54 

How  conviction  sometimes  comes 146 

How  to  test  the  truth  of  Christianity 58 

How  men  glory 244 

How  they  should  glory 244 

How  men  are  prepared  for  usefulness 279 

Human  nature  should  shun  dangerous  passes 274 

I 

Impoverishing  the  soul  for  the  sake  of  gain 238 

In  danger  men  call  on  God 168 

Infidels  are  working  for  God   , 209 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

PAGB 

Infidels  and  fixed  laws 206 

Influence  on  social  intercourse  of  a  belief  in  the  immortality 

of  man 41 

Is  conscience  our  punisher  ? 252 

J 

Journals  the  devil's  vanity  trap 38 

Journal  of  God 95 

Judge  not  by  appearances  237 

Judging  of  Christians 60 

L 

Lecture  room,  the xxxix. 

Life  a  concatenation 41 

Lightning  rods 234 

Living  in  Gethsemane ;     46 

Living  altogether  in  the  affections  unsafe 51 

Longing  for  life 156 

Look  out  along  the  banks  of  life 154 

Loving  God  in  Christ — studying  a  picture 31 

Loving  men  makes  them  ours 47 

Love  to  God  the  only  right  motive  of  action 106 

Love  the  only  ground  of  perfect  union 178 

Love's  labor — basket  making 82 

if 

Make  God  to  suit  your  need 205 

Making  a  dead  letter  of  the  Bible 243 

Man  not  required  to  understand  God's  mysteries 174 

Mean  conversions   269 

Measuring  by  God 33 

Meeting  in  heaven 217 

Men  not  to  be  judged  by  Sunday  conduct 250 

Men  must  be  more  than  indexes 73 

Men  too  refined  for  God 51 

Men  of  one  idea 44 

Ministers  should  mingle  with  the  masses 76 

Mirth  the  wine  of  life 222 

Monday  versus  Sunday 112 

Morality  a  short  cable 173 


XVlii  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Morality  compared  to  a  ship 219 

Most  dangerous  sins 37 

Most  expected  from  those  who  have  most 291 

Motives  not  always  required  to  be  unselfish 27 

Mourning  garments 47 

N 

Natural  faculties  blossomed 52 

No  creature  so  impotent  as  man 276 

No  defining  classes  of  feelings , 41 

No  happiness  apart  from  God • 36 

No  man  can  do  another's  work 79 

No  man  can  live  unto  himself 177 

No  quiet  for  the  soul  of  man 273 

No  religion  in  the  Bible 167 

Not  afraid  of  a  laugh , 270 

Not  good  to  see  too  much  of  men   99 

O 

One  virtue 154 

Only  the  hopeless  may  hope 235 

Opposing  ideas  of  Christianity 256 

Oregon  pines 66 

Our  actions  affect  God's  happiness 29 

Our  churches  growing  pure 228 

Our  faculties  interpret  God 283 

Our  hour  of  rest , 230 

Outward  and  occasional  morality 85 

P 

Pain  purifying 162 

Passages  from  prayers 296 

Paul's  conversion 50 

People  not  apt  to  confess  besetting  sins 189 

Perfect  love 34 

Persecuted,  but  not  forsaken 160 

Phonographic  report  of  a  prayer 302 

Pictures  for  eternity 213 

Planting  seeds  by  singing 148 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

PAGB 

Poor  and  rich  saints  contrasted 94 

Prayer 67 

Praying  into  nothing 114 

Praying  tone 296 

Praying  too  long 295 

Preparation  for  prayer 296 

Prodigality  of  God 183 

Pushing  the  rock  the  wrong  way 110 

R 

Raphael's  transfiguration 249 

Reality  of  God's  love 231 

Reason  like  a  telescope 42 

Reckoned  with  the  children  of  God 225 

Refined,  yet  unchristian 43 

Reformation  not  religion 105 

Religion,  a  need  of  the  soul 37 

Religion  the  bread  of  life 275 

Religion  the  warp  and  woof  of  life 168 

Religious  and  family  affection  compared 100 

Religious  controversies , 277 

Remarks  respecting  a  new  church 243 

Rest  on  the  promises 26 

Revelations 35 

Ridicule,  men  impervious  to 30 

Right  between  the  right  persons 233 

Right  doing  should  be  involuntary ". 251 

Right  living  more  than  abstaining  from  sin 115 

Right  sort  of  prayer-meeting 93 

8 

Security  of  trusting  spirits 285 

Self-will  prevents  conversion 107 

Sentimental  goodness 278 

Scruples  of  good  men  in  regard  to  the  indulgence  of  taste  for 

the  fine  arts 95 

Short  of  provisions 113 

Sight  of  a  rifle 291 

Sins  like  undermining  worms 39 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Slaveholder's  letter 165 

Some  doubts  never  settled   40 

Sorrows  like  clouds 53 

Sowing  seed  on  a  windy  day 227 

Strength  equal  to  your  day 163 

Submissive  in  the  affections,  but  rebellious  in  business  affairs, 

when  troubled 241 

Suffering  rightly  borne 42 

Summer  meeting  in  the  store-house  of  Autumn 255 

Sweetest  natures  soonest  soured 97 

T 

Taking  up  the  cross 91 

Tear  ringing  in  heaven 28 

Tears  often  telescopes . 52 

Test  of  a  good  institution 279 

The  church  not  God's  only  instrument 278 

The  devil's  cloak 187 

The  family  the  most  important  institution 97 

The  grave  a  window  into  heaven 44 

The  law  a  battery Ill 

The  leaf  in  a  whirlpool. 57 

The  man  of  your  counsel 282 

The  moral  pirate 232 

The  preacher's  a  painful  business 63 

The  prosperous  voyage 218 

The  question  in  the  air 165 

The  slave  and  the  diamond 223 

The  sportsman 226 

The  theatre ...    157 

The  vanished  years 191 

Things  that  money  cannot  buy 261 

Thin  souls 113 

Thoughts  and  reasonings  of  children — Satan  catching  wicked 

boys — Andy  Chandler,  the  old  Negro  servant,  etc 199 

Time  a  beleaguering  army 274 

Tormenting  one's  self  with  the  memory  of  repented  sins 188 

Truth  equilibriated 114 

Truth  that  leaves  false  impressions 288 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

PAGB 

Truths  that  take  hold ...  277 

Turning  the  helm 109 

U 

Uncurrent  coin 248 

Undermined  towers 231 

Unkind  words  like  pins  and  needles 90 

Unselfishness  the  surest  way  to  happiness. 46 


V 

Virtues  of  the  moralist 71 

Volcanic  natures..  39 


W 

Waiting  for  conviction  of  sin » 146 

Warning  against  Plymouth  Church 286 

Water-logged  by  fear 113 

Weak  love 275 

We  shall  know  of  the  doctrine 242 

We  want  to  be  converted 227 

What  is  the  testimony  of  your  life  ? 262 

What  repentance  is 253 

Which  crimes  ruin  most 40 

Whittling  out  prayers 43 

Who  is  wise 173 

Whose  are  the  sheep  ? 259 

Who  should  pray 292 

Why  the  world  was  made  what  it  was 279 

Wickedness  worse  in  God  than  in  man 222 

Wisdom  and  modesty  to  be  used  in  expressing  even  our  right 

opinions 179 

Wolf-like  sin 30 

Woman's  yearning  for  love 82 

Woman  more  godlike  than  man 46 

Words  are  bubbles 187 

Words  of  Christ.,  , 81 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Work  out  your  own  salvation  .....  .  .......................  110 

Worst  spectacle  of  this  country  .........    .................  204 

Y 

Ye  would  take  away  ray  Lord  ...................  .  .........  11*7 

Z 

Zigzagging  to  heaven  ................  >  ..................  269 


HENRY   WARD    BEECHER. 

WHEN  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  dead,  there  will  be 
made  a  great  effort  to  learn  just  how  he  looked  and  acted, 
as  well  as  just  what  he  said. 

And  perhaps  it  will  fall  out,  in  his  case,  as  it  has  in 
regard  to  many  others  of  renown,  that  with  much  labor 
and  with  heavy  cost,  men  shall  succeed  in  discovering 
nothing  very  definite  or  reliable. 

It  is  easy  to  enumerate  the  points  in  a  man's  personal 
appearance,  if  that  were  all.  Mr.  Beecher  is  of  medium 
height,  is  full  in  flesh,  has  a  strong,  well  developed  frame  ; 
every  organ  is  active  and  healthy.  He  has  full  command 
of  his  limbs,  which  are  pliant  and  supple  as  a  child's  ;  his 
body  is  as  elastic  as  an  india-rubber  ball,  and  handled 
by  him  with  about  as  much  ease  as  he  would  toss  about 
a  ball.  His  face  is  full  and  fresh  ;  his  eyes  large,  expres 
sive,  atfd  blue — sometimes  grey  ;  his  forehead  is  square 
and  broad,  his  hair  brown,  and  worn  long  ;  his  glance 
quick,  keen,  and  discerning ;  his  smile  humorous  and 
pleasant, 

Who,  now,  that  has  not  seen  the  man,  can  tell  how  he 
appears  to  the  eye  that  actually  beholds  him  ?  and  who 
can  ever  gather  from  such  points  the  endless  variety  in  a 
man's  appearance  ? 

xxiii 


XXIV  HENRY   WARD   BEKCHER. 

To  describe  Mr.  Beecher's  mind,  there  are  not  half  a 
dozen  writers  in  the  country  who  could  be  trusted  ;  and 
only  the  pen  or  the  brush  of  a  master  could  do  anything 
like  justice  to  his  mere  physical  man.  Would  that  there 
might  arise,  betimes,  some  efficient  limner. 

Like  the  mountains  of  which  Mr.  Beecher  delights  to 
talk,  he  has  numberless  diverse  moods  and  aspects.  Like 
them,  he  is  sometimes  cloudy  and  obscured  ;  and  some 
times,  like  them,  he  stands  out  bold  and  clear,  in  the  full 
light  of  noon. 

Never  was  human  face  more  variable  ;  of  no  one  that 
ever  lived  could  it  more  emphatically  be  said,  "  On  differ 
ent  days  he  looks  a  different  man." 

At  one  time,  and  in  one  mood,  his  face  is  red,  his  eyes 
dull  and  half  covered  with  the  swollen  flesh  of  the  heavy 
lids.  There  is  no  brightness  to  be  seen  about  him  ;  no 
briskness  of  motion,  no  erectness  or  strength  of  posi 
tion.  The  animal  nature  has  gained  temporary  ascend 
ency  over  the  spiritual,  and  an  enemy  might  be  expected 
to  describe  Mr.  Beecher  as  an  unrefined  ploughboy, 
or  a  butcher  in  a  minister's  clothes,  or  rather,  in  a 
minister's  desk,  for  Mr.  Beecher's  clothes  are  not  minis 
terial. 

But  let  the  enemy  wait  until  he  sees  our  mountain  in  its 
more  usual  aspect.  Let  him  wait  until  the  strong,  and 
perhaps  somewhat  rough  and  rugged  intellect  has  stirred 
itself,  and  arisen  for  action,  till  the  torpedo-like  heart  is 
on  fire,  till  the  fervid  words  burst  forth,  and  the  face,  but 
now  so  dull,  begins  to  shine  with  the  interior  glory. 


HENRY   WAJBD   BEECHEE.  XXV 

Then  comes  the  transfiguration  !  The  material  shrinks 
from  sight,  and  the  spiritual  beams  forth,  causing  in  his 
countenance  a  change  almost  inconceivable.  His  face 
assumes  all  the  rich  softness  of  a  mezzotint  engraving — 
round,  fair,  and  dimpled  you  now  perceive  it  to  be  j  and 
its  whole  expression  becomes  pure  and  elevated,  almost 
like  the  angels'  faces  that  we  have  seen  in  dreams. 

His  forehead  is  white  and  high,  and  shines  like  the 
brow  of  a  sun-touched  mountain  ;  his  eyes  beam  clear  and 
mild,  now  with  the  strength  of  the  man,  again  with  love 
and  innocence,  like  the  eyes  of  a  babe  ;  his  close-shaven 
chin,  and  the  lower  part  of  his  cheeks  are  shaded,  as  if  by 
the  brush  of  an  artist ;  there  is  no  longer  a  rugged  line, 
or  a  rough  look  about  him,  his  aspect  is  altogether  noble, 
beautiful,  serene. 

This,  until  he  stands  forth  as  Boanerges,  and  then  he  is 
the  mountain  in  a  winter  storm.  Mingling  in  his  tones, 
are  heard  reminders  of  the  cataract,  and  of  the  crash  of 
thunder  j  while  his  flashing  eyes  and  changing  features 
have  upon  you  the  effect  of  lightning,  and  his  gestures 
represent  the  rushing  wind.  Then,  while  you  are  yet 
thrilling  to  the  sweep  of  the  storm,  you  are  melted  to 
tears  by  some  sorrow,  or  some  longing,  started  into 
new  life  by  the  magic  tenderness  of  tones  silvery 
sweet. 

Mr.  Beecher's  voice  alone  is  a  wonderful  power.  It 
mingles  in  its  various  utterances,  all  loud,  and  wild,  and 
awful  tones,  with  the  sound  of  fairy  harpstrings,  and  the 
chime  of  bells.  It  has  the  high  battle-call  of  the  trurn- 


XXVI  HENBY   WARD   BEECHER. 

pet  or  the  clarion,  and  all  the  touching  gentleness  of  a 
mother's  cradle  hymn. 

A  man  whose  voice  combines  the  three  sorts  of  power 
with  which  the  three  following  sentences  were  spoken, 
has  in  his  possession  an  engine  fitted  to  move  the  world  : 

"When  they  come  forth  from  their  graves — when 
from  mountain,  from  valley,  and  from  the  dark  waves  of 
the  sea,  they  lift  up  their  blanched  faces  to  their  Judge 
they  will  be  speechless." 

"  Butterflies,  the  interior  spirit  of  rainbows,  sent  down 
to  salute  those  kisses  of  the  seasons  on  the  ground- 
flowers." 

"Women,  who  have  such  need  of  love,  ought  not  to 
find  it  hard  to  come  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  put  their  arms 
about  his  neck,  and  tell  him,  with  gushing  love,  that  they 
give  themselves,  body  and  soul,  into  his  keeping." 

What  has  been  said  and  written  of  Dr.  Chalmers'  pul 
pit  appearance,  manners,  and  diction,  reminds  one  very 
forcibly  of  Mr.  Beecher.  As  plain  "  in  dress  and  gait " 
as  was  that  celebrated  preacher,  and  as  impressive  in 
discourse  as  he,  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Alike  in 
plainness  of  speech,  in  intense  earnestness,  in  quick  and 
deep  emotion,  in  apt  and  striking  imagery  and  illustration, 
are  the  sermons  of  these  two  men — Men.  Alike,  in 
the  sermons  of  each,  when  at  full  flood,  deep  calls  unto 
deep,  spirit  speaks  to  spirit,  and  the  hearer  almost  forgets 
that  he  yet  wears  the  veil,  and  dwells  amid  the  false  and 
deceptive  scenes  of  the  flesh.  Often  it  seems  as  if  the 
judgment  were  already  set,  and  the  hearer  there.  Few, 


HENBY  WAED  BEECHEE.          XXVU 

indeed,  are  the  preachers  who  have  power  to  strike  di 
rectly  to  the  heart,  to  lay  hold  with  such  forcible  and 
tenacious  grasp  upon  the  moral  sense,  as  does  Henry 
Ward  Beecher.  Every  man's  soul  may  be  reached  in 
some  way,  and  Mr.  Beecher  knows  the  open  path.  Let 
that  man  who  does  not  wish  his  conscience  roused,  his 
nerves  thrilled,  and  his  tears  started,  keep  away  from  the 
genuine  and  impassioned  power  of  truth,  as  presented — 
as  "thrust  in  upon  men's  souls,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

A  cold,  polished,  cynical  man  of  the  world,  going  one 
evening,  at  the  invitation  of  a  lady,  to  Plymouth  Church, 
remarked  upon  his  way,  "I  go  to  hear  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  with  the  same  feelings  that  I  go  to  witness  the 
performances  of  Burton." 

The  sermon  that  night,  though  not  one  of  Mr.  Beecher*s 
greatest  efforts,  was  a  powerful  one,  appealing  to  man's 
own  consciousness  of  sin  and  ill  desert  ;  every  word  told. 
There  was  no  escape.  It  was  extempore,  only  the  heads 
thoroughly  analyzed  and  accurately  worded,  being  written 
out.  The  speaker's  logic,  at  which  the  visitor  had  seemed 
inclined  to  sneer,  was  perfect  ;  and  his  presentation  of 
the  truth  was  truly  appalling  to  all  out  of  Christ. 

The  face  of  the  gentleman  who  thought  he  was  going 
to  be  amused  that  evening,  belied  his  feelings  if  he  was 
amused. 

The  aptness  of  Mr.  Beecher's  comparisons  ;  the  acute- 
ness  with  which  he  lays  the  knife  to  what  needs  cutting  ; 
the  unexpected  descents  which  he  makes  upon  errors  of 
thought  and  conduct,  frequently  excite  irresistible  laugh- 


XXV111  HENEY   WAED  BEECHEE. 

4L 

ter.  From  this  fact,  those  that  lie  in  wait  seeking  how 
they  may  harm  him,  have  represented  him  in  the  light  of 
a  clerical  buffoon.  Nothing  can  be  more  entirely  or 
malignantly  false.  He  is  as  far  from  levity  and  irrever 
ence  as  those  who  purposely  malign  him  are  from  noble 
ness  and  honesty.  Gravity  sits  upon  him  with  a  native 
grace. 

But  his  imagination  is  so  rich  and  strong,  his  flow  of 
language  is  so  great,  and  the  heart  that  beats  like  a  great 
hammer  in  his  breast,  is  such  a  volcanic  heart,  so  impetu 
ous,  so  prone  to  overflow,  that  he  does  sometimes  lose  the 
reins  of  prudence.  He  is  occasionally  like  a  man  who 
has  struck  his  foot  so  hard  against  a  stone,  that,  to  save 
himself  from  falling  on  his  face,  he  needs  must  run  awhile, 
though  every  step  be  upon  vipers.  The  temperament 
which  God  gave  a  man  must  be  considered  in  judging  of 
him  ;  and  considering  that  of  Mr.  Beecher,  also  the  mul 
titude  of  things  that  he  has  said,  and  is  forever  saying  ; 
and  the  pressure  of  the  various  extreme  excitements  which 
are  upon  him  ;  it  is  a  proof  that  he  possesses  a  remark 
able  share  of  discretion  and  common  sense  that  he  has 
said  so  few  imprudent  things  as  he  has  said. 

Mr.  Beecher  is  frequently  humorous,  both  in  tone  and 
expression,  when  he  is  altogether  unaware  that  he  is  so. 
It  is  conceded  that,  great  as  is  this  orator,  and  nobly  as 
truth  and  earnestness  are  stamped  on  all  that  he  says  and 
does,  that  master  as  he  is  of  gesture  and  expression,  there 
still  is  hovering  about  him  somewhat  of  the  ludicrous. 

Certain  notions  he  has  which  always  incline  one  to 


HENRY   WARD   BEECHER.  XXIX 

smile.  The  wag  of  Ms  head  when  he  is  about  to  clinch 
an  argument ;  the  shake  of  his  elbows  and  his  knees, 
when  he  knows  that  he  has  you  penned  ;  the  eager 
ness  with  which  he  seizes  upon  that  devoted  handkerchief, 
when  he  is  about  to  "  charge  ;"  the  strength  with  which, 
as  he  commences  his  tilt,  he  squeezes  it  (turning  his  hand- 
palm  towards  his  chair  and  back  towards  the  desk,  leaning 
on  knuckles  and  thumb,  one  foot  crossed  over  the  other, 
and  supported  upon  its  toe) ;  the  force  with  which  he  throws 
it  from  him,  as  he  comes  forward  to  close  in  the  conflict 
he  has  waged  ;  are  all  manoeuvres  certain  to  be  repeated, 
almost  constantly;  and  one  cannot  avoid  being  amused 
by  seeing  them  so  unconsciously,  yet  energetically,  per 
formed. 

Although  Mr.  Beecher  himself  seldom  appears  to  be  in 
much  haste,  there  is  always  an  air  of  being  in  a  hurry 
about  his  clothes  and  his  hair.  They  manifest  inten 
tions  of  going  forward,  whether  he  goes  or  remains 
standing  still.  His  neck  is  so  short  that  he  never  ven 
tures  a  standing-up  collar.  This,  probably,  in  considera 
tion  for  his  ears. 

One  very  remarkable  singularity  in  his  face  is  the  utter 
incongruity  between  its  .front  and  its  side  views.  Upon  being 
told  that  he  resembled  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  a  relative 
of  that  clergyman  replied,  laughingly,  "  I  know  that  I  am 
said  to  look  like  him  ;  but  'tis  such  resemblance  as  a  sheep 
bears  to  a  lion."  Now  the  fact  is,  were  that  humble- 
minded  relative  of  the  famed  "Lion"  a  great  deal  more 


XXX  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER. 

like  a  "  sheep  n  than  he  considers  himself  to  be,  he  might 
still  bear  striking  resemblance  to  his  cousin  ;  for  though 
when  he  turns  full  towards  you,  in  the  heat  of  discourse, 
Mr.  Beecher  frequently  does  present  the  appearance  of  a 
lion,  it  is  next  to  impossible  for  a  person  of  an  imaginative 
turn  of  mind  to  view  his  profile  without  being  strongly 
reminded  of  ovine  faces,  seen  and  perhaps  loved,  in  the 
days  and  the  years  gone  by. 

The  timidity  of  the  sheep  is  not  there  ;  but  its  long 
favoredness,  its  serenity,  its  gentleness,  and  modesty  of 
expression,  most  certainly  are.  His  face  is  mobile  to  the 
last  degree  :  to  the  play  of  his  features  there  appears  to 
be  no  limit.  There  is  not  a  feeling  of  the  heart  that  he 
cannot  strongly  express  without  the  utterance  of  a  word. 
And  his  strong,  well-knit  and  flexible  frame  is  an  engine 
for  action  than  which  no  mortal  never  need  desire  a 
better. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  is  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  a  handsome  man  ?  Don't  you  ask  it,  reader.  It 
is  a  question  that  cannot  be  answered.  Can  any  one 
think  those  heavy  eyes,  that  indescribable  nose,  those 
pouting,  I-don't-care  sort  of  lips,  that  tumbled  hair,  that 
boyish  face,  handsome  ?  Not  very  easily.  But,  can  we 
call  that  glowing  eye,  that  soul-lit  face,  those  eloquent 
lips,  and  that  royal  brow,  ugly — homely  ?  Impossible  ! 
Let  the  question  rest. 

When  not  in  "  a  brown  study,"  Mr.  Beecher's  manners 
are  the  most  free  and  genial  that  can  be  imagined ;  but 


HENBY    WARD    BEEOHEE.  XXXI 

every  year  seems  to  render  him  more  and  more  abstracted. 
People  are  sometimes  hurt  and  offended  by  his  indifference 
and  forgetfalness  of  them,  when  he  is  utterly  unconscious 
of  all  outward  things,  intent  upon  his  next  sermon  or  lec 
ture  ;  for  he  makes  his  sermons  in  the  streets,  in  stores,  in 
lumber  yards,  on  ferry-boats,  or  wherever  he  may  chance 
to  be.  And  it  is  plain  to  be  seen,  that  a  man  in  the  midst 
of  sermon-making,  cannot  be  very  thoughtful  of  his  man 
ners  to  those  who  chance  to  pass  or  to  pause  beside 
him. 

It  is  said  that  a  polished  and  courteous  brother  cler 
gyman  one  day  called  on  Mr.  Beecher  ;  and  on  being 
shown  into  his  study,  found  him  stretched  upon  the  floor, 
from  which  he  made  no  haste  to  rise.  "  I  am  study  ing 
my  sermon,"  said  Mr.  Beecher,  looking  steadily  and 
gravely  into  the  fire  which  burned  before  him. 

On  one  occasion  it  was  thought  needful  that  Mr. 
Beecher  should  be  waited  on  by  a  committee  of  ministers, 
in  order  that  they  might  reassure  themselves  and  the 
churches  of  his  sound  orthodoxy.  When  the  object  of 
their  visit  was  stated — "  Let  us  pray,"  said  Mr.  Beecher 
instantly — "let  us  pray  ;"  and  the  prayer,  if  we  mistake 
not,  settled  the  matter  satisfactorily. 

The  children  like  Mr.  Beecher — that  shows  what  his 
nature  is.  They  all  love  to  speak  to  him,  to  play  with 
him,  to  hand  him  flowers.  They  crowd  his  pulpit  stairs  ; 
the  boys  gather  almost .  about  his  feet.  After  meet 
ing  one  spring  evening,  while  Mr.  Beecher  was  talking 
with  several  gentlemen,  upon  some  apparently  important 


XXX11  HENRY   WAED   BEECHEK. 

business,  a  little  rosy-faced  girl  stepped  on  to  the  plat 
form,  and  holding  out  a  bunch  of  white  and  red  clover, 
said  :  "  Here,  Mr.  Beecher."  He  instantly  bent  towards 
the  child,  and  taking  the  flowers,  said  in  a  pleased  tone, 
and  with  a  kind  smile  :  "  Thank  you  ;  these  smell  like  the 
country."  The  child  looked  perfectly  delighted  as  she 
darted  away.  The  mystery  and  secret  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  wonderful  success  as  a  preacher,  may  be  ex 
plained  in  his  own  words,  which  he  applied  to  another  : 
"  He  preaches  life-truths  in  life-forms,  with  the  power  of 
his  life  in  their  utterance." 

He  is  not  a  greater  man,  not  a  more  learned  man,  not 
a  better  man,  than  many  other  ministers  who  never  can 
keep  people  awake.  But  he  is  more  alive.  Why  ;  there 
is  intense  life  in  all  that,  in  desk  or  pulpit,  he  does  or 
says.  What  wonder  that  he  who  is  so  vivid  there  should 
sometimes  sog  and  smolder,  when  the  excitement  of  his 
work  is  over. 

Many  excellent  Christian  people,  growing  anxious  lest 
the  preaching  of  a  man  whose  influence  must  necessarily 
be  so  great  and  wide  should  be  pernicious,  take  long  jour 
neys  for  the  object  of  satisfying  themselves  of  the  truth 
of  the  matter.  Hardly  a  Sabbath  passes  in  which  several 
of  these  intent  and  anxious  faces  cannot  be  seen,  narrowly 
regarding  the  minister,  as,  all  unconscious  of  them,  he 
delivers  his  message  for  the  day. 

Although  every  now  and  then,  such  good  people  get 
some  remark  which  causes  them  to  look  a  little  doubtful, 
their  faces  clear  before  the  sermon  is  over  ;  and  when  the 


... 

HEXRY  WARD  BEEOHEK.         XXX111 


final  prayer  is  ended,  and  the  final  hymn  sung,  they  go 
away  praising  God  for  the  good  that  he  is  accomplishing 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  man  whose  influence 
they  had  feared. 

The  whole  country  knows  that  the  singing  of  Plymouth 
Church  is  Congregational.  It  knows  also  that  some  of 
the  hymns  sung  there  are  those  that  are  forbidden  to 
many  orthodox  and  dignified  churches.  But  too  great  a 
price  is  often  paid  for  dignity.  Not-  all  the  dignity  on 
earth  is  worth  the  feelings  with  which  the  thousands  of 
that  great  congregation,  standing  up  together,  sing  joy 
fully  the  hymn  commencing — 

"  Amazing  grace !  how  sweet  the  sound,"  etc. 
and  its  chorus  (in  which  even  the  children  join)  of 
"  Oh !  that  will  be  joyful  to  meet  to  part  no  more." 

and  then  listen  to  the  parting  blessing  of  their  pastor — 
"  And  until  that  blessed  day,  to  which  he  is  bringing  us 
on,  may  the  blessing  of  God  be  with  us  ;  and  the  glory 
shall  be  given  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Amen." 

No  man  can  be  truly  great  whose  central  life-purpose  is 
to  be  great.  Selfish  ambition  is  certain  death  to  those 
principles  which  give  men  immortality.  Love  to  God,  or 
love  to  man,  or  both  of  these,  must  lie  at  the  foundations 
of  all  true  fame.  For  the  sake  of  preaching  the  Gospel — 
the  Gospel  of  redemption  and  of  freedom — Henry  Ward 
Beecher  lives;  for  this  sake  he  would  die.  This  is  his  pur- 

B* 


XXXIV  HENKY   WARD   BEECHER. 

pose;  and  into  this  work  he  throws  all  that  there  is  in 
him,  and  all  that  he,  by  seeking  throughout  the  height 
and  depth  of  life,  can  obtain. 

That  he  has  stood — that  he  is  standing — where  the 
temptation  to  pride  and  self-conceit  is  strong,  he  knows 
well;  and  with  all  his  heart  he  has  besought  the  Lord  to 
keep  him  clothed  in  the  garments  of  humility.  Year 
after  year  the  multitudes  throng  him;  they  press  around 
him,  till  the  place  that  holds  him  is  too  strait  for  them. 
They  hang  upon  his  words,  they  love  him,  they  revere 
him.  The  man  is  not  deaf  nor  blind;  his  heart  is  not  a 
stone,  and  it  needs  no  philosopher  to  say  that  in  his  posi 
tion  only  the  grace  of  God  can  keep  a  man  humble,  and 
without  any  affectations  of  vanity.  The  Lord  has  heard 
the  prayer  of  his  servant.  The  "  Mountain  "  knows  that 
it  is  high;  the  "  Lion  "  knows  that  he  is  strong.  It  would 
be  mere  affectation  to  deny  that ;  but  though  he  has  pro 
per  self-respect,  it  is  well  proportioned  and  justly  com 
bined  with  self-abnegation.  No  man  forgets  himself  more, 
or  regards  himself  more  soberly,  than  does  Henry  Ward 
Beecher. 

This  is  the  opposite  of  what  was  feared  in  the  beginning 
of  his  course. 

Ten — eleven  years  ago,  when  first  people  began  to 
talk  of  the  great  numbers  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was 
drawing,  there  were  remarks  like  the  following  made  : 

"  It's  a  new  thing;  people  will  run  after  novelties." 

"  It  won't  last  long,  depend  on  that.  These  young 
guns  burst  suddenly — vanity  charges  them  too  heavily." 


HENBY   WARD   BEEOHER.  XXXV 

"  Oh  it's  more  the  name  of  Beecher  than  anything 
else." 

"  He  is  the  tail  end  of  the  heap  ;  he  never  would 
study." 

"  Any  man  that  has  tact  and  boldness,  and  that  knows 
how  to  swell,  can  draw  a  crowd  for  a  while." 

And  Rev.  Dr.  -Shepard,  of  the  Theological  Seminary 
in  Bangor,  Maine,  remarked,  "  If  Mr.  Beecher  continues 
to  draw  so  large  a  congregation  for  six  years,  he  will 
prove  himself  a  remarkable  man."  And  now,  having  seen 
how  the  matter  turned,  that  heroic  divine  (heroic  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word,  for  men  who  would  not  fear  to 
die  in  battle,  or  to  risk  life  in  other  ways,  often  lack  hero 
ism  to  stick  to  their  post  when  money  beckons  them  away), 
who  excels  as  scholar,  preacher,  and  critic,  has  become  a 
hearty  approver  and  admirer  of  Mr.  Beecher.  It  needs 
no  more  than  this  to  show  that  the  feet  of  the  pastor  of 
Plymouth  Church  stand  on  firm  and  solid  ground. 

He  has  his  faults,  and  they  are  numerous,  and  not  too 
small  to  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye.  Perhaps  the  very 
reason  why  he  so  admires  gentleness,  is  because  he  has 
not  in  his  own  disposition  overmuch  of  that  quality.  But 
of  his  faults  there  are  sufficient  who  are  ready  to  speak, 
and  to  rejoice  in  them.  Well,  as  he  says,  "  There  always 
will  be  persons  who  have  in  them  the  carrion  nature." 
Such  as  their  pastor  is,  with  all  his  glorious  powers,  or 
with  reactive  dullness,  with  all  his  virtues,  and  with  all 
his  faults,  his  people  love  him. 

They  have,  however,  one  cause  of  regret  in  regard  to 


XXXVI  HENRY   WARD  BEECHER. 

him.  Mr.  Beech er  is  a  sound  and  vigorous  man,  physi 
cally  ;  but  he  cannot  last  always — he,  as  well  as  others, 
must  die  ;  and  where  is  the  material  that  shall  live  after 
him  ?  that  shall  show  to  the  future  world  what  a  man  once 
lived  and  died  ?  He  is  now  forty-six  years  olfl,  and  not 
yet  are  prepared  the  witnesses  which  shall  speak  for  him 
after  he  has  gone  hence.  Full  measure,  pressed  down, 
running  over,  has  his  life  ever  given  ;  but  will  he  be  of 
their  number  whose  dying  is  but  an  endless  multiplying  of 
their  life  ?  His  sermons,  matchless  as  they  are,  are  sel 
dom  fully  written  out ;  and  no  mortal  hand  but  his  own 
can  properly  retouch  them.  Hitherto,  he  has  not,  except 
in  one  or  two  instances,  given  to  the  world  proof  of  what 
he  is.  In  his  pulpit — on  his  own  platform — he  is  seen  and 
known — known  to  such  as  have  listened  to  him  often — for 
no  man  can  judge  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  from  one  or  two 
sermons.  No  crystal  was  ever  so  many  sided  as  he;  all  sides 
so  bright  and  pure  ;  but  abroad,  where  he  goes  to  lecture, 
they  neither  see  nor  hear  him.  Oh  !  that  his  platform 
had  a  tongue  !  or  better,  that  it  knew  to  use  the  pen ;  then 
would  be  manifested,  before  all  the  world,  the  splendor 
and  the  power  ;  the  yearning  love,  the  crushing  wrath, 
the  thunderous  denunciations,  the  resistless  appeals,  the 
originality,  the  logic,  the  analysis,  the  heroism,  the  phi 
losophy,  which  render  this  man  unsurpassed  in  setting 
forth  the  truths  of  the  Religion  of  Christ. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  came  of  a  goodly  stock  ;  Welsh 
blood,  with  its  poetry  and  music,  flows  in  his  veins. 
He  is  indeed  a  poet ;  though  it  is  not  known  that  ever  in 


HENBY   WABD   BEECHEB.  XXXV11 

his  life  he  made  one  line  to  rhyme  with  another.  But  get 
him  before  a  fine  painting,  and  see  the  poetic  frenzy  that 
comes  mightily  upon  him  there. 

He  is  not  much  gifted  with  prudence  in  the  use  of  mo 
ney  ;  and  is  so  generous  towards  those  that  have  need  of 
his  aid,  that,  as  a  gentleman  of  his  congregation  remarked, 
when  there  was  talk  in  regard  to  raising  his  salary ; 
"  Three  thousand  dollars  a  year  is,  as  far  as  his  own  inte 
rest  is  concerned,  just  as  good  as  ten  thousand  ;  for  he  has 
nothing,  now,  when  the  end  of  the  year  comes  ;  and  he 
would  have  no  more  then." 

Nor  are  all  his  gifts  public  ones.  To  the  unknown  pool 
he  does  good  ;  they  who  have  sat  in  great  darkness,  and 
whom  he  knew  but  little  more  of  than  this,  that  they  were 
in  trouble  and  want,  have  known  his  ready  generosity. 
Such  persons  know  that  it  is  from  the  impulse  of  his  heart, 
and  not  to  gain  a  name  for  benevolence,  that  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  does  good  with  his  money. 


THE   LECTURE-ROOM. 


THE  Lecture-room  of  Plymouth  Church  is  entered 
from  both  ends,  and  is  capable  of  seating  about 
four  hundred  persons.  Mr.  Beecher's  desk  stands 
directly  before  the  door  at  which  he  always  enters. 
Between  the  desk  and  the  door  is  a  high  and  wide 
white  screen  of  boards.  Towards  this  screen  all 
eyes  are  directed,  from  the  time  the  people  are 
assembled  until  the  pastor  appears.  The  meetings 
are  always  well  attended — generally  they  are 
crowded ;  and  better  or  more  interesting  prayer 
and  conference  meetings  there  are  not.  People 
flock  to  them  with  a  real,  living  pleasure,  which  is 
printed  upon  their  features.  A  sensation  of  glad 
ness  is  always  experienced  when  the  pastor's  face 
appears. 

Taking  his  seat,  Mr.  Beecher  gives  out  a  hymn, 
and  then  calls  upon  some  brother  to  pray.  This  is 
three  times  repeated.  The  hymns  are  not  read, 
unless  one  happens  to  strike  with  peculiar  force  the 


X  THE  LECTURE-ROOM. 

pastor  or  some  brother ;  or  unless  it  set  to  ringing 
some  "silver  bell"  in  Mr.  Beecher's  heart;  in 
which  case  he  reads  it,  in  his  own  touching  man 
ner. 

After  the  third  prayer  the  meeting  is  open  for 
remarks;  and  speakers  are  heard  from  various 
parts  of  the  room.  The  brethren  make  known 
an  experience,  a  want,  or  they  ask  a  question.' 
Anything  practical  the  pastor -is  glad  to  hear. 
"  Anything,"  as  he  says,  "  that  has  life  in  it." 
And  when  one  takes  into  consideration  the 
transcendent  prayer  and  conference-meeting  apti 
tude  of  the  pastor,  it  is  really  astonishing  with  what 
freedom  the  most  halting  and  uneducated  persons 
rise  up,  and  unabashed  before  him,  express  their 
minds,  and  open  their  feelings. 

Strangers  attending  the  meetings  are  prone  to 
think  that,  after  hearing  the  pastor  talk,  no  one 
else  would  dare  to  open  his  mouth.  But  Mr. 
Beecher's  aim  is  to  encourage  and  draw  out  the 
humble  and  stammering  disciple,  and  in  this  he  suc 
ceeds  to  admiration.  The  minister  sits  smiling  in 
his  seat,  like  a  loved  teacher ;  and  to  him  both  old 
and  young  submit  any  question  of  duty  or  of  doc 
trine  by  which  they  are  exercised.  He  is  faithful 
to  warn,  exhort,  check,  or  encourage;  and  his 
power  of  applying  cures  to  right  places  seems, 
sometimes,  well-nigh  miraculous.  It  is  a  strange 


THE   LECTTTRE-ROOM. 

thing  to  see  old,  grey-headed  men  arise  and  ask 
that  comparatively  young  one,  of  things  too  deep 
for  their  understanding ;  and  stranger  still  is  it  to 
hear  how,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  the  young 
one  pours  light  upon  the  whole  subject,  while  the 
inquirer  sinks  to  his  seat  silent  and  satisfied. 

"When  a  man  stands  up  and  begins,  after  a  dead 
and  formal  manner,  to  make  a  long,  set  exhortation 
upon  generalities,  he  is  very  liable  to  be  requested 
to  alter  the  tone  of  his  remarks,  or  to  make  them 
brief.  That  brother  will  be  liable  to  be  asked  if  he 
thinks  his  religion  renders  him  any  more  amiable 
than  he  was;  if  he  is  any  more  agreeable  and 
patient  in  his  family,  any  moje  merciful  and  just 
with  his  clerks,  any  more  upright  and  humble  in 
every  part  of  his  life.  Such  home  thrusts  are  useful 
in  bringing  people  down  from  that  convenient 
generality  that  we  "are  all  great  sinners,"  from 
reflections  and  remarks  that  hit  no  one,  and  help 
no  one,  and  they  fasten  attention  on  particular 
points  where  attention  is  needed. 

But  while  canting  exhortations  and  heartless 
prayers  are  thus  discouraged,  the  most  trembling 
lisper  who  really  has  a  thing  to  say,  and  don't  un 
dertake  to  speak  or  pray  merely  from  "  a  sense  of 
duty,"  is  kindly  heard.  If  a  timid  beginner  in  the 
prayers  and  the  language  of  Zion,  break  down  in 
the  midst  of  his  utterance,  instead  of  the  dead 


Xlii  THE   LECTURE-ROOM. 

and  awkward,  the  half  killing  silence,  made  appal 
ling  to  the  stammerer  by  exchanged  glances  and 
nods,  perhaps,  also,  by  smiles  from  those  present, 
the  word  is  instantly  taken  up  by  the  pastor,  or  by 
some  brother,  and  the  distress  of  the  young  convert 
is  covered  and  cured. 

Any  one  who  has  ever  witnessed  such  scenes  as 
have  taken  place  within  the  last  year,  in  some  con 
ference  meetings,  will  know  how  fully  to  appreciate 
the  delicacy  and  skill  of  management  like  this. 

People  accustomed  but  to  solemn  faces  in  prayer- 
meetings,  are  frequently  shocked  at  seeing  a  smile, 
or  hearing  a  sound  as  of  subdued  laughter,  go 
round  the  lecture-room  of  Plymouth  Church.  Well ; 
the  charge  that  people  laugh  there  cannot  be  de 
nied  ;  they  do. 

But  the  laughter  of  levity,  or  of  trifling  with 
things  sacred,  is  not  that  which  Mr.  Beecher's  re 
marks  excite,  and  he  holds  the  strange  belief  that 
man  was  made  to  laugh,  when  he  feels  like  it,  even 
in  the  presence  of  God  himself.  And  if  there  is  a 
man  or  woman  with  a  face  so  stiff  as  not  to  smile, 
or  laugh  outright,  at  the  sudden  and  skillful  hits 
made  by  Mr.  Beecher  at  various  faults  and  errors, 
surely  it  is  not  one  that  would  be  welcomed  every 
where  with  love  and  joy. 

Laughter  thus  caused  has  oftentimes  more  power 
to  send  an  evil  into  annihilation  than  twenty 


THE   LECTURE-KOOM. 

years  of  grim   and  solemn   argumentation  would 
have. 

A  nickname  well  applied  can  paint  a  man  better 
than  any  brush  of  artist.  "  Go  tell  that  Fox?  says 
Jesus,  and  what  labored .  description  could  set  He 
rod  more  vividly  before  us  ? 

It  is  a  fact  that  Mr.  Beecher  cannot  keep  his  face 
to  that  devout  measure  and  expression  which  those 
who  gravely  censure  him,  so  holily  wear. 

The  people  smile  at  their  pastor,  and  at  each 
other,  and  he  smiles  at  them.  Thus  there  is 
sunshine  at  evening  there.  Anon  they  look  at 
him  with  falling  tears,  and  his  own  eyes  fill,  and 
the  tears  roll  down  as  he  speaks  of  Christ's  love  and 
pity,  or  of  man's  ingratitude.  Certainly,  if  it  is 
better  to  suppress  all  such  signs  of  feeling,  it  is 
more  painful,  and  those  who  sit  side  by  side  un 
moved,  while  are  poured  the  prayer,  the  song,  the 
entreaty,  cannot  love  each  other  as  they  do  who 
have,  in  their  meetings,  looked  through  smiles  and 
tears,  through  sorrow  and  laughter,  into  each  other's 
very  hearts. 

Since  the  coming  hither  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
the  meetings  have  often  been  more  interesting 
than  ever.  He  stands  like  a  glorious  old  ruin, 
speaking  of  the  good  days  of  the  past.  And  he 
utters  a  few  words  more  of  love  and  invitation  to 
the  world  before  he  leaves  its  shores  forever. 


THE  LECTURE-ROOM. 

< 

t 

How  ardently  he  loved  his  work!  how  he  loves 
it  now ! 

One  night  the  subject  of  remark  during  con 
ference  was  "  Looking  unto  Jesus."  Mr.  Beecher, 
with  his  usual  power,  had  illustrated  this  looking, 
by  the  looking  of  a  child  towards  its  parents,  a 
soldier  to  his  officer,  etc.,  and  had  then  proceeded 
to  show  how  much  greater  encouragement  one 
would  take  by  looking  unto  Christ.  Said  he,  "  'Tis 
hard  to  make  people  habitually  do  this,  but  far 
harder  to  cause  them  to  realize  that  Jesus  is  actu 
ally  always  looking  upon  them.  I  think  that  more 
Christians,  and  the  same  one  for  a  greater  number 
of  times,  take  comfort  by  what  they  do  towards 
the  Lord,  than  by  what  the  Lord  does  towards 
them.  "We  know  that  we  do,  sometimes  at  least, 
look  upwards,  lovingly,  confidingly ;  but  that  he 
looks  down  on  us  with  real,  throbbing  love,  we 
can't  seem  to  believe  that.  There  are  many  rea 
sons  why  this  seems  impossible.  Our  own  con 
sciousness  of  ill  desert,  our  meanness,  our  coldness, 
our  entire  unloveliness,  all  appear  to  stand  in  the 
way  of  our  being  objects  of  love  to  him.  Yet  it 
was  against  this  very  feeling  that  he  aimed  his  dis 
course  in  the  chapter  where  he  asks  if  an  earthly 
parent  will  give  his  child  a  stone  for  bread,  or  a 
serpent  for  a  fish,  etc.  "We  say,  "  Oh,  of  course,  an 
earthly  parent  would  not  deal  so ;  he  must  love  his 


THE  LECTUKE-ROOM. 

offspring,  but  God  is  different ;  he  is  so  far  off,  so 
much  above  us ;  there  may  be  reasons  why  he 
cannot  regard  us." 

Nay,  but  Christ  twists  the  argument  the  other 
way.  "  If  ye,  BEING  EVIL,  know  how  to  give 
good  gifts,  etc.  Is  it  because  your  child  is  good, 
and  does  all  things  to  please  you,  that  you  give  of 
your  fullness  to  him  ?  Or  is  it  because  he  is  your 
own,  and  you  love  him  ?  Now  you  reach  it,  that 
is  the  manner  of  feeling  which  God  has  for  all 
who  once  and  heartily  have  given  themselves  to 
him.  But  don't  you  think  that  your  poor,  un 
steady  and  imperfect  love  is  more  true  and  endur 
ing  than  his.  Out  of  his  infinite  goodness  his  love 
flows  to  us ;  the  reasons  for  it  are  in  his  own 
nature,  not  in  ours." 

Here  the  venerable  Dr.  Beecher  rose  and  said : 
u  I  want  to  say  one  thing  about  this  looking  of  God. 
There  must  always  be  something  to  look  at." 

He  sat  down.  It  was  plain  that  the  watchful 
Father  in  Zion  feared  that,  from  some  omission  in 
his  son's  remarks,  the  ignorant  and  foolish  might 
take  occasion  to  think,  "  We  will  do  evil  that  love 
may  abound." 

Mr.  Beecher  had  been  sitting  in  his  chair,  as  his 
manner  is  when  he  speaks  often,  and  but  a  few 
moments  at  a  time,  in  the  meetings ;  but  now  he 
rose  and  moved  aside  his  table.  Bending  forward 


THE  LECTUBE-BOOM. 

over  the  edge  of  his  platform,  he  said,  "I  should 
like  to  know  what  He  saw  to  look  at  when  he  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  himself  to  die  for  it. 
When  a  man's  back  is  towards  God,  and  he  is  hat 
ing  him,  I  don't  think  that  God  ever  sees  that  man's 
face.  -Even  for  such  persons  God's  love  is  compas 
sionate,  though  it  cannot  be  the  peculiar  affection 
one  feels  for  his  own  child ;  but  the  moment  that 
the  man's  face  is  turned  towards  God,  the  love  of  a 
father  to  his  son  is  but  a  feeble  sign  of  the  infinite 
tenderness  with  which  the  Almighty  Father  regards 
him.  It  is  the  world  that  needs  to  be  reconciled, 
not  God." 

"That  is  just  what  I  meant,"  said  old  Mr. 
Beecher. 

"  I  knew  you  did,  father ;  but  I  wanted  them  to 
understand  it  in  my  words  too." 

At  another  time,  Dr.  Beecher  hearing  a  blind 
brother,  who  rather  inclined  to  the  doctrine  of  per 
fection,  make  some  remarks  to  the  effect  that  the 
way  of  perfection  was  the  way  of  peace,  remarked : 
"If  we  are  to  have  no  peace,  and  no  sense  of  justi 
fication,  until  ^we  do  love  the  Lord  with  all  our 
heart,  and  soul,  and  strength,  and  until  we  are 
conscious  that  we  are  free  from  offences,  no  man 
who  knows  his  own  heart  can  ever  have  them.  The 
love  of  God  is  with  his  children  the  paramount 
love,  but  never,  till  they  get  to  heaven,  will  it  be 


THE   LECTUBE-BOOM. 

all  that  the  command  requires.  Measuring  our 
selves  by  the  law  of  absolute  perfection,  every  man 
falls  short  every  day.  There  are  two  sorts  of  per 
fection  by  which  God's  creatures  stand :  one,  the 
perfection  of  absolute  obedience  ;  the  other,  the 
perfection  of  faith.  By  the  first  the  angels  stand, 
by  the  last  stands  man.  Faith  is  counted  to  us  for 
righteousness.  Faith  is  shown  by  love  and  good 
works,  but  both  of  these  are  imperfect,  and 
accepted  only  for  Jesus'  sake." 

"  My  father,"  said  Henry  "Ward,  "  is  like  an  old 
war-horse.  They  say  that  he  has  served  his  time, 
and  they  shut  him  into  a  rich  pasture  to  take  his 
ease  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  But  he  won't  take  his 
ease ;  he  scorns  it.  When  the  trumpet  sounds  the 
pasture  cannot  hold  him ;  he  leaps  the  fence,  and 
takes  his  old  place  in  the  ranks,  marching  with  the 
rest  until  the  parade  is  over.  And  you  cannot  keep 
father  away  from  the  work  to  which  his  life  was  so 
freely  and  earnestly  giverr."  Again  he  said :  "  My 
father  has  made  his  journey  and  reached  the  shore ; 
but  he  is  waiting  for  a  little  time  before  he  crosses, 
to  call  back  to  those  that  are  still  upon  the  way, 
and  to  tell  them  of  the  things  that  shall  make  their 
journeying  less  toilsome  and  dangerous.  He  will 
go  over  soon." 

" I  waited  to  see  one  more  revival"  exclaimed 
the  old  gentleman  in  a  lively  tone.  "  I  have  seen 


THE   LECTUBE-ROOM. 

it — a  glorious  one.  It  is  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
God  will  show  you  greater  things  than  these.  In 
the  four  churches  over  which  I  was  pastor  there 
were  four  years  of  revival.  Revivals  never  ought 
to  stop.  I  am  willing  to  wait  twenty  more  years 
If  I  can  be  permitted  to  work  in  a  revival." 

The  glad  times  during  the  great  revival  of 
L857-8  seemed  to  renew  the  youth  of  Dr.  Beecher. 

<c  This  meeting,"  said  Mr.  Beecher  at  one  time, 
•£  is  the  bellows  which  keeps  the  fire  going,  yonder 
in  the  Great  Congregation.  I  am  sure  that  more 
depends  upon  it  than  upon  the  Sunday  service — at 
least  without  it  the  preaching  would  be  almost 
powerless.  This  is  a  pleasant  place — we  all  love  it. 
I  think  that  we  can  say,  that  here  we  have  spent 
some  of  the  happiest  hours  of  our  whole  lives." 


LIVING   WORDS 

FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 


THEKE  are  two  views  of  the  Gospel,  loth  of  which 
some  churches  use. 

One  view  of  it  is,  that  it  is  a  power  which  makes 
laws  for  the  protection  of  all  men  who  will  quietly 
yield  up  their  rights,  and  submit  themselves  to 
what  will  inevitably  crush  out  of  them  their  man 
hood. 

The  other  view  is,  that  the  Gospel  is  a  power 
which  secures  to  man  all  the  inherent  rights  of 
his  nature,  and  which  protects  him  in  them. 

The  first  view  regards  men  as  mere  passive  bricks 
for  the  building  of  the  palace  of  society,  which  is 
considered  the  important  thing.  The  latter  view 
considers  society  as  the  school  for  training  indi 
vidual  men. 

Man  is  the  most  important  thing  created  on  the 
earth.  Rulers,  societies  and  systems  are  but  his 
servants  and  protectors. 

The    churches    are  welcome  to  which  one  of 

2  25 


26  LIVING    WOUDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

these  views  they  like  best.  They  shall  not  have 
both.  I  take  the  latter  side,  and  declare  that  those 
who  don't  believe  in  it  had  better  stop  sending  out 
Bibles.  They  had  better  stop  ministers,  at  any 
rate  such  ones  as  I  am ;  for  I  preach  knowing  that 
the  Gospel  is  a  bombshell  in  the  midst  of  thrones, 
and  a  mine  beneath  every  fortress  of  power  whose 
strength  is  used  against  the  people's  rights  instead 
of  for  them. 


TAKE  from  the  Bible  the  Godship  of  Christ,  and 
to  me  it  would  be  but  a  heap  of  dust.  I  would  as 
soon  have  all  Egypt  raked  into  a  heap,  wherein  not 
a  stone  of  its  cities,  nor  a  trace  of  its  inhabitants 
could  be  found,  as  that  book  if  its  Christ  be  not 
God. 


MAN  is  required  to  pour  all  that  is  in  him — all 
of  his  life  and  love — into  the  bosom  of  Christ ;  and 
when  that  is  done,  what  is  there  left  for  God  ? 


THE  man  who,  after  having  cast  his  care  on 
Christ,  goes  to  fretting  and  worrying  himself  about 
anything  or  anybody,  is  like  one  who,  having  pur 
chased  a  through  ticket  from  here  to — anywhere, 
and  receiving  a  check  for  his  baggage,  gets  out  of 
the  car  at  the  end  of  a  mile  or  two,  and,  shoulder- 


LIVING    WORDS    FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  27 

ing  his  trunk,  starts  to  go  the  .rest  of  the  way  alone. 
Christ  never  rolls  back  upon  us  burdens  that  we 
lay  on  him ;  we  take  them  back  ourselves. 
What  is  a  religion  worth  that  will  stay  with  a  man 
in  the  sunshine,  but  clear  out  in  a  storm?  The 
Christian  has  a  right,  and  it  is  his  duty,  to  be  free 
from  all  care  and  anxiety.  Let  him  lie  on  the  pro 
mises,  and  be  at  rest.  "  Oh !  but,"  says  the  doubt 
ing,  worrying  disciple,  "  the  promises  are  made  to 
the  righteous ;  and  I  am  so  full  of  imperfections  I 
dare  not  claim  them."  Well,  brother,  if  you  wait 
for  that  righteousness  which  is  by  the  law,  you'll 
nevet*  be  able  to  rest  on  the  promises ;  but  if  you 
trust  in  Christ,  that  is  counted  to  you  for  righteous 
ness  ;  and  your  right  to  the  comfort  of  the  promises 
is  as  good  as  though  you  were  as  holy  as  an  angel. 
Christ's  love  sweeps  away  the  unworthiness  of  all 
who  sincerely  love  him.  God  has  undertaken  for 
you ;  trust  him,  though  you  know  not  where  to  get 
your  next  supply  of  bread. 


THAT  Christ  does  not  hold  men  to  proper  and  un 
selfish  motives  when  they  come  to  him  for  healing, 
we  may  see  by  the  cleansing  of  the  nine  selfish  and 
ungrateful  lepers.  He  knew  their  dispositions  and 
motives,  as  well  before  as  after  he  had  granted  their 
prayer.  God  allows  men  to  cry  out  to  him  from  sel- 


28  LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

fish  fear ;  and  he  never  refuses  to  attend  to  any  earnest 
cry.  If  he  did  not  attend  to  such  cries,  or  receive 
such  persons,  whom  would  he  receive  ?  Dare  any 
man  lift  up  his  face  and  say,  "When  I  cried  unto 
God,  I  cried  worthily,  from  pure  and  disinterested 
motives."  The  conditions  are  not  "  Come  with  pure 
hearts  and  motives  unto  me ;"  they  are  "  Come,  and 
your  motives  shall  afterwards  be  made  right."  A 
true  conversion  will  do  that  work.  Nothing  else 
will.  If  you  are  awake  to  your  danger,  if  you  see, 
at  last,  that  your  only  hope  is  in  Jesus,  don't  stop 
to  examine  your  motives,  or  his  willingness  to 
receive  you  just  as  you  are.  Hush  to  his  fee4  this 
moment.  All  that  you  cannot  do,  he  can  and  will 
do.  All  that  you  now  have  to  do  is  heartily  to 
come.  Drop  every  hope  and  every  dependence  but 
Christ,  and  give  your  whole  life  and  soul  into  his 
keeping. 

A  TEAR,  dropped  in  the  silence  of  a  sick  chamber, 
often  rings  in  heaven  with  a  sound  which  belongs 
not  to  earthly  trumpet  or  bells. 


GOD  is  more  willing  to  give  good  gifts  unto  them 
that  ask  him,  than  men  are  to  give  them  unto  their 
children  !  God  could  not  have  struck  the  founda 
tion  note  of  human  desire  squarer  than  he  did  by 
this  declaration. 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  29 

THERE  is  no  honor  toward  God,  either  in  the 
heart  of  man  or  woman.  Suppose  that  I  dared  to 
go  into  a  school  and  take  some  young  maiden — one 
the  least  hackneyed  in  the  ways  of  life,  and,  calling 
upon  her  the  attention  of  all  her  companions  and 
teachers,  declare  that  her  soul  was  base,  mean  and 
vulgar ;  that  she  was  without  natural  affection  or 
human  feeling  ;  that  she  regarded  not  the  good  of 
brother  nor  sister,  and  that  she  returned  the  affec 
tion  of  father  and  mother  with  ingratitude  and  con 
tempt.  "Why!  she  would  not  for  a  moment  bear 
such  charges — she  would  die — she  would  suffocate 
with  shame.  Yet  I  stand  here  and  I  charge  upon 
you  young  maidens,  and  young  men — upon  every 
one  of  you  into  whose  eyes  I  look,  if  you  have  not 
given  your  hearts  to  Christ,  conduct  infinitely  worse 
than  this ;  because  'tis  towards  one  who  is  more  to 
you  than  any  earthly  friend  can  possibly  be.  I 
charge  upon  you  the  meanest,  the  most  base  and 
unnatural  conduct  that  can  be  imagined ;  but  you 
sit  calmly  under  that,  you  look  me  in  the  face  and 
do  not  blush,  and  not  a  feeling  of  shame  stirs  in 
you,  solely  because  this  atrocious  behavior  is  main 
tained  towards  God ! 


I  THINK  that  the  outreaching  of  God's  heart  of 
love  has  more  power  in  it  than  the  beating  of  God's 
fist  has.  Love  is  mightier  than  indignation. 


30  LIVING    WORDS   FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

* 

IT  makes  a  difference  to  God  liow  we  act.  His 
happiness  is  affected  by  the  conduct  of  his  child 
ren  ;  for  his  heart  is  the  heart  of  a  father.  If. 

*  ^ 

when  my  child  sins,  a  pang  goes  through  my  own 
soul,  and  I  fly  to  rescue  him  from  further  iniquity, 
it  is  because  God  struck  into  my  breast  a  little 
spark  of  what  in  him  is  infinite. 


SOME  men  are,  in  regard  to  ridicule,  like  tin- 
roofed  buildings,  in  regard  to  hail — all  that  hits 
them  bounds  rattling  off,  not  a  stone  goes  through. 


CHEIST  never  stands  rebuking  before  he  pardons 
and  helps  the  suppliant. 


GOD  hates  sin,  because  it  destroys  what  he  loves. 
He  could  live  high  and  lifted  up  above  all  noise  of 
man's  groaning — all  smoke  of  his  torment ;  but  his 
nature  is  to  come  down  after  man — to  grope  for 
him  amid  all  the  dark  pollutions  of  sin,  and  if  pos 
sible,  to  rescue  and  cleanse  him. 

God  hates  sin  very  much  as  mothers  hate  wild 
beasts.  One  day  a  woman  stood  washing  beside  a 
stream.  She  was  in  a  wild,  .frontier  country,  and 
the  woods  were  all  around.  Her  .little,  only  child 
was  playing  about  near  her.  By  and  by  she 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  31 

missed  the  infant's  prattle,  and  looking  about  her 
called  its  name.  There  was  no  answer.  Alarmed, 
the  mother  ran  to  the  house,  but  her  babe  was  not 
there.  In  wild  distress  the  poor  woman  now  fled 
to  search  the  woods,  and  there  she  found  her  child. 
But  it  was  only  its  little  lody  that  she  clasped  to 
her  heart.  A  wolf  had  seized  her  treasure,  and 
when,  at  last,  she  rescued  it  from  those  bloody 
fangs,  its  spirit  had  gone.  Oh  !  how  that  mother 
hated  wolves ! !  And  do  you  know  that  this  is  the 
very  figure  Christ  uses  to  show  what  feeling  he 
has  towards  the  sin  that  is  seeking  to  devour  his 
children  ? 


WHEN  we  sin  we  are  not  going  against  a  cold, 
unfeeling  law;  but  are  striking,  with  cruel  hand, 
direct  at  the  living,  loving  heart  of  God. 


"  THIS  loving  God,"  you  say  ;  "  I  can't  do  it. 
How  can  I  love  infinity — omnipotence?  I  might 
as  well  try  to  love  a  cloud,  or  to  try  to  embrace  in 
my  warm  palpitating  affections  the  vast  expanse  of 
ether."  True,  you  cannot  love  God — you  cannot 
love  this  expansive,  mysterious  essence  of  omnipo 
tence.  God  knows  very  well  that  you  cannot,  and 
for  that  reason  among  others,  he  condescended  to 
bring  himself  down  to  your  capacity ;  to  come 


32  LIVING    WORDS   FBOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

within  the  reach  of  your  affections  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  From 
my  soul  I  pity  that  man  who  goes  behind  Christ 
and  seeks  to  fasten  himself  upon  God  unrevealed. 
As  you  say,  he  may  as  well  seek  to  embrace  with 
warm  love  the  elastic  and  invisible  air.  But  it  is 
with  Christ  that  we  have  to  do,  and  if  you  desire  to 
fashion  him.  to  your  mind  that  your  heart  may  love 
him,  I  will  tell  you  how.  Sit  down  and  read  his 
life — not  in  parts ;  not  a  chapter  one  day,  and 
another  the  next ;  nor  a  paragraph  with  your  coat 
and  hat  at  your  elbow,  ready  to  start  for  New 
York;  but  read  his  life  straight  through,  giving 
your  mind  and  your  heart  time  to  take  in  the 
meaning  of  what  you  read.  Thus  you  may  view 
him  in  his  loveliness,  and  your  affections  cannot 
fail  of  being  touched.  If  you  went  into  an  artist's 
studio  to  look  at  the  picture  of  some  distinguished 
person  of  whose  appearance  you  wished  to  get  a 
clear  idea,  how  do  you  think  it  would  answer  to 
have,  at  your  first  visit,  all  of  that  painted  face 
except  the  forehead,  covered  ?  Looking  at  that  a 
little  while,  you  go  away  and  come  again  the  follow 
ing  day.  The  forehead  is  covered  now,  and  the 
lower  parts  of  the  face,  but  the  eyes  are  visible. 
You  look  at  them  a  few  moments  and  go  away  as 
before.  The  next  day  they  give  you  a  view  of  the 
nose,  exclusively ;  the  next  you  behold  the  upper 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  33 

lip ;  next  they  give  you  the  lower  lip,  and  finally 
the  chin.  Now  you  have  seen  the  whole  face ;  but 
do  you  know  how  it  looks  I  No,  you  don't.  You 
can  form  no  idea  of  the  effect  of  such  a  combina 
tion  of  features ;  you  can't  imagine  what  the 
expression  of  the  face  is,  you  don't  know  it  from 
Adam's.  Now,  who  would  for  a  moment  put  up 
with  such  portrait  seeing?  We  say  when  we 
come  up  before  a  picture  :  "  Get  out  of  the  way — 
let  me  see  the  whole  effect  of  this."  But  it  is  in 
this  dissected  manner  that  men  look  at  the  char 
acter  of  Christ.  Not  so  do  they  study  "Washing 
ton  ;  nor  any  other  man  of  whose  character  they 
wish  to  form  an  opinion,  and  of  whose  personal 
deserts  they  wish  to  judge.  "Why  should  Christ  be 
so  unjustly  treated  ?  Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that 
there  are  four  lives  of  Christ,  each  one  written  by 
men  of  different  minds,  that  all  forms  of  minds 
might  be  suited  ?  Study  those  lives  by  the  whole, 
and  you  will  find  how  to  love  him. 


'Tis  not  safe  for  any  man,  whether  Christian  or 
not,  to  measure  himself  by  any  other  than  God's 
own  rule.  Let  him  lay  himself  on  God;  and  let 
him  judge  of  himself  by  how  he  looks  there.  Let 
him  hold  up  in  the  light  of  God's  word  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  his  inmost  soul. 

2* 


34:  LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

PERFECT  love  casteth  out  fear.  While  the  heart 
is  filling,  the  agitations  of  fear  remain  ;  but,  when 
the  lake  is  filling  by  the  moon-drawn  and  star- 
drawn  tides,  what  commotion  is  there  in  its  bosom — 
how  the  sands  are  swept  about,  how  the  muddy 
bottom  sends  its  rile  through  all  the  waters.  There 
are  ripples  and  eddies,  and  struggling  currents; 
there  is  seething  and  boiling ;  there  are  bubbles 
and  foam,  until  the  lake  is  almost  filled.  But  as 
the  waters  deepen,  as  the  banks  grow  less  and  less, 
the  agitation  subsides.  The  sand  settles,  the  foam 
is  blown  away,  the  bubbles  are  scattered.  And 
when  the  lake  is  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  it 
clears  itself,  and  lies  unruffled  and  serene,  reflect 
ing  in  its  calm  bosom,  the  moon,  the  stars,  and  the 
tranquil  heavens.  Thus  is  it  with  the  heart  of 
man.  When  love  ebbs  low  in  his  soul  he  is  tossed 
and  whirled  by  the  .agitations  and  torments  of  fear ; 
but  when  the  Spirit  of  God  flows  in  and  fills  his 
heart  with  divine  love,  the  tumults  are  stilled ;  and 
looking  up  with  confidence  and  joy,  the  man 
reflects  from  his  overflowing  soul  the  image  of  his 
God  and  Father. 


FARMERS  have  learned  a  lesson  which  many  mo 
ralists  have  not  learned  ;  namely,  that  when  seed  is 
sown  grain  must  be  looked  for  at  the  latter  end  of 
the  harvest,  and  not  at  the  beginning. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  35 

CHRIST  reveals  himself  unto  his  own  in  ten  thou 
sand  ways,  but  often  they  do  not  know  him  when 
he  comes.  Many  times  he  speaks  to  them  when 
they  do  not  even  suspect  that  they  have  had  a  reve 
lation.  They  dare  not  think  it ;  they  fear  that  it 
would  be  a  lack  of  humility  to  believe  that  the 
Saviour  really  has  made  good  his  promise,  and 
come  unto  them.  "When  we  are  burdened  and  cast 
down,  how  often  does  some  passage  of  Scripture 
dart  suddenly  into  our  mind,  lighting  up  all  our 
darkness  like  a  flash  from  Heaven?  It  is  from  Hea 
ven.  Christ  thus  reveals  himself  to  strengthen  and 
encourage  us.  We  may  be  beset  by  sore  tempta 
tions,  and  just  upon  the  point  of  yielding,  when  the 
word  of  warning  comes ;  or  we  may  be  feeling  deso 
late  and  forsaken,  having  none  to  lean  upon,  and  yet 
not  knowing  how  to  stand  alone,  when  the  revela 
tion  has  been  of  love  that  passeth  understanding — 
of  pity  deep  as  the  bosom  of  Almighty  God.  I  sat 
once  under  a  tree  near  a  little  stream,  holding  in 
my  hands  a  bunch  of  flowers.  Suddenly,  from  the 
air  came  swooping  down  upon  them  a  little  bird. 
He  had  not  seen  me ;  when  he  did  so  he  instantly 
fled  :  but  he  could  not  take  from  me  the  sweet  sur 
prise  and  the  exciting  pleasure  of  his  visit.  Thus 
comes  flying  to  us  the  new  revelation  from  our  God. 
New  in  effect,  though  old  in  letter.  Like  the  bird 
that  only  touched  me  with  its  little  feet  and  bill,  it 


36  LIVING   WORI}S   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

may  but  alight  a  moment  on  our  heart,  and  depart 
as  suddenly  as  it  came,  but  it  does  its  work.  As,  at 
a  touch  from  some  passing  thing,  the  dew-laden 
bushes  shake  off  at  morn  the  weight  of  the  burden 
that  has  been  pressing  down  all  their  leaves,  so,  at 
one  shock,  do  our  hearts  shake  off  their  burdens, 
and  rise  up  in  thanksgiving  and  joy. 


A  MAN  who  is  very  much  afraid  of  sins  that 
bring  immediate  shame  and  punishment,  while  he 
cares  nothing  at  all  for  those  which  are  of  a  nature 
to  recur,  increase  and  form  character,  is  like  a  child 
who  should  come  laughing  into  a  room  with  his 
apron  full  of  asps ;  but  be  very  much  terrified  at 
being  chased  by  a  butterfly. 


THERE  is  no  enduring  happiness  apart  from  God. 
As  well  might  a  branch  broken  from  a  tree  in  the 
forest  say,  "  Now  I  am  free — I  will  grow  and  be  a 
tree  by  myself,"  as  any  human  soul  say,  "  I  will  be 
free — I  will  do  as  I  like  and  be  happy  in  my  own 
way,"  when  he  does  not  draw  on  God  for  his  enjoy 
ment.  He  is  a  broken  bough — a  reed  plucked  up  ; 
a  waif  floating  no  whither.  True  happiness  he  can 
never  know  until  he  comes  to  draw  it  from  its  only 
source — God. 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  37 

THERE  are   sins  which,  like  asps,  always  cany 

their  sting  with  them.      The  instant  one  meddles 
°  • 

with  them,  he  is  struck  by  the  poisoned  dart. 
Such  sins  are  generally  rare  and  admitted  to  be 
very  wrong.  But  there  are  others  that  are  far 
more  dangerous.  Men  in  tropical  climates  may  be 
very  much  afraid  of  tigers ;  but  there  are  multi 
tudes  of  minute  insects  flying  in  the  woods  whose 
bite  is  death.  Shall  they  be  less  afraid  of  these  ? 


MEN  often  hunger  and  thirst  after  God  when 
they  don't  know  what  ails  them.  There  is  cra 
dled  in  every  man's  soul,  though  often  nearly 
smothered,  something  which  is  the  child  of  God, 
ever  crying  out  for  its  Father.  You  may  say,  "  I 
cast  religion,  priests  and  churches  overboard;  I'll 
have  no  more  to  do  with  them,  I've  seen  through 
them,  and  they  are  worthless."  But  you  will  have 
more  to  do  with  them,  for  when  you  have  destroyed 
the  outward  forms,  the  living  want  will  still  be  in 
you.  Religion  is  not  a  thing  of  arbitrary  requisi 
tions  it  is  an  inherent  need  of  the  soul.  The  Bible 
and  ordinances  are  but  ^evoked  by  man's  necessities, 
to  help  him.  You  come  to  church,  you  think  your 
cheeks  are  hard,  and  they  are;  you  think  your 
hearts  are  hard,  and  they  are  hard  ;  you  think  you 
can  resist  the  dogmas,  and  so  you  can ;  therefore  I 


38  LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

shall  not  present  them.  I  won't  throw  pearls 
before  swine,  but  being  crafty,  I  catch  you  with 
guile.  Many  of  you  are  ashamed  that  you  want  to 
come  here ;  some  of  you  go  out  cursing  because 
your  hearts  are  touched.  But  you  come  again  and 
again.  You  are  what  is  called  gospel  hardened ; 
but  in  reality  you  are  word  hardened.  You  have 
heard  the  same  things  presented  in  the  same  way 
so  long  that  you  are  tired  of  them ;  therefore  I  go 
out  of  my  way  to  get  new  forms  in  which  to  pre 
sent  old  truths.  For  your  sakes  I  forsake  all  set 
rules  of  sermonizing,  and  strike  direct  at  that 
within  you  which  I  know  will  echo  to  my  words. 
I  know  that  in  every  man's  bosom  there  is  that 
which  at  times  longs  for  something  better  and 
purer  than  he  is.  At  your  interior  consciousness  I 
aim  my  thrust.  I  strike  my  blow.  Those  old  bells 
in  you,  I  will  make  them  ring.  You  may  turn  out 
the  sexton,  you  may  cut  off  the  rope.  I'll  throw 
stones  and  hit  your  bells  if  I  can  do  nothing  more. 
To  the  truth  they  shall  peal  out,  and  your  soul  shall 
tremble  at  the  peal. 


JOURNALS  are  often  the  devil's  vanity  trap.  Men 
write  in  them  pretending  to  themselves  that  they 
don't  expect  them  to  be  published,  when  all  the  time 
they  know  that  they  will  be  ;  and  are  writing 
under  the  influence  of  that  idea. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  39 

IN  some  waters  a  man  may  drive  strong  piles 
and  build  his  warehouses  upon  them,  sure  that  the 
waters  are  not  powerful  enough  to  undermine  his 
foundations ;  but  there  is  an  innumerable  army  of 
minute  creatures  at  work  beneath  the  water,  feed 
ing  themselves  upon  those  strong  piles.  They 
gnaw,  they  bore,  they  cut,  they  dig,  into  the  solid 
wood,  and  at  last  a  child  might  overthrow  those 
foundations,  for  they  are  cut  through  and  eaten  to 
a  honeycomb.  Thus  by  avarice,  revenge,  jealousy 
and  selfishness,  men's  dispositions  are  often  cut 
through  and  they  don't  know  it.  * 


THERE  are  men  who  delight  to  see  evil  in  those 
professing  godliness.  They  doubt,  they  leer,  they 
jeer.  Well,  there  are  birds  appointed  to  seek  for 
carrion,  and  they  always  find  it.  By  their  very 
seeking  they  declare  their  own  nature.  Don't  you 
imitate  their  dirty  flight.  They  are  of  the  carrion 

family. 

• 

GOD  values  men  according  to  what  they  have  had 
to  walk  through.  Some  men  are  so  made  that  they 
are  obliged  to  hold  perpetual  warfare  with  them 
selves.  They  must  have  a  hand  always  on  the  en 
gine,  or  something  will  blow  up  in  them  every 
minute. 


40  LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

THERE  are  doubts  and  troubles  that  never  can  be 
settled.  The  only  thing  to  be  done  with  them  is  to 
lay  them  down  and  leave  them.  This  the  Christian 
must  do  if  he  wants  peace ;  and  if  the  impenitent 
won't  do  it  they  will  torment  him  to  death. 
That's  all  he'll  gain  by  clinging  to  them.  There  is 
no  system  by  which  everything  can  be  made  to  look 
clear  to  men  while  they  live  in  the  flesh.  As  long 
as  we  live  there  must  continue  to  be  many  things 
that  to  us  seem  dark  and  mysterious.  It  matters 
not.  Enough  that  there  is  no  darkness,  no  mystery 
which  is  not  clear  to  God.  To  him  let  us  trust  mat 
ters,  and  not  take  the  care  of  things  upon  ourselves. 


GOD  will  certainly  take  care  of  you  if  you  bear 
your  whole  weight  on  him.  He  may  not  do  it  just 
in  your  way ;  but  he  will  do  it.  He  cannot  let  one 
of  your  real  interests  perish,  or  be  hurt,  without  the 
most  dreadful  perjury  of  himself. 


GREAT  crimes  ruin  comparatively  few.  It  is  the 
little  meannesses,  selfishnesses,  and  impurities,  that 
do  the  work  of  death  on  most  men  ;  and  these 
things  march  not  to  the  sound  of  fife  or  drum. 
They  steal  with  muffled  tread,  as  the  foe  steals  on 
the  sleeping  sentinel. 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  41 

WHAT  a  man  has  thought  and  felt  bears  intimate 
relation  to  what  he  now  thinks  and  feels.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  divesting  one's  self  of  the  influences 
of  former  living.  A  man's  life  is  a  concatenation — 
he  is  rolled  over  and  over  on  himself. 


THERE  are  many  men  who  have  a  dyspepsia  of 
books. 


IN  love,  the  freshness  and  charm  of  youth  have 
caught  men's  attention,  and  they  have  pronounced 
the  first  love  best ;  but  it  is  the  poorest.  One  does 
not  know  how  to  love  till  he  has  felt  the  discipline  of 
life.  Young  love  is  a  flame;  very  pretty,  often  very 
hot  and  fierce,  but  still  only  light  and  flickering. 
The  love  of  the  older  and  disciplined  heart  is  as 
coals,  deep-burning,  unquenchable. 


A  REALIZATION  of  the  spiritual  nature  and  the 
eternal  duration  of  man  purifies  and  elevates  our 
social  intercourse.  The  clearer  a  man  sees  man's 
destination  and  true  life,  the  more  he  reveres  hu 
manity  as  a  thing  sacred  and  honored  of  God. 


I  DON'T  believe  in  definitions  of  feelings  or  classes 
of  feelings.     They  can  be  illustrated — not  defined. 


42  LIVING   WORDS   FROM.   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

THERE  is  a  time  when  one  is  neither  one  thing  nor 
another ;  not  exactly  in  boyhood,  and  not  exactly 
in  manhood,  but  in  the  limbo  of  vanity.  This  is  the 
time  when  parents  become  foolish,  and  not  worth 
minding ;  when  the  theology  of  one's  childhood  be 
comes  bigotry,  narrow,  simple ;  when  one  yearns 
for  largeness,  liberty.  This  is  the  time  of  danger. 
Infidelity  with  dark  wing  hovers  near,  and  if  the 
youth  be  not  now  guided  wisely  and  betimes  they 
become  its  victims.  Having  myself  narrowly  es 
caped  this  doom,  I  know  how  to  sympathize  with 
those  who  are  in  danger. 


HEASON  is  like  a  telescope — you  can  arrange  it  so 
that  with  it  you  can  see  only  the  things  near  to  you, 
but  it  has  other  powers.  By  drawing  it  out  and 
properly  adjusting  the  glasses,  you  can  make  what 
is  near  you  to  grow  dim,  and  the  things  far  off  to 
come  near,  and  by  and  by,  when  the  lenses  are 
all  right,  you  can  see  beyond  the  stars  and  into  the 
heavenly  city,  and  the  magnificent  background  to 
your  view  is  the  glory  of  God. 


SUFFERING  rightly  borne  weakens  that  part  of  us 
that  should  be  weak,  and  strengthens  what  should 
be  strong. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  43 

WILL  men's  prayers  be  answered  ?  Not  if  they 
pray  as  boys  whittle  sticks,  absently,  hardly  know 
ing  or  caring  what  they  are  about.  I've  known 
men  to  begin  to  pray  about  Adam,  and  go  on  from 
him  away  down  to  the  present  time,  whittling  their 
stick  clear  to  a  point  with  about  as  much  feeling, 
and  doing  about  as  much  good  as  the  boy  does. 


REFINEMENT  is  one  of  the  outworkings  of  faith  in 
the  spiritual.  It  is  the  lifting  of  one's  self  upwards 
from  the  merely  sensual,  the  effort  of  the  soul  to 
etherealize  the  common  wants  and  uses  of  life.  A 
really  refined  man  who  ignores  Christianity  is  a 
creature  to  beget  wonder.  A  man  whose  sense  of 
color  is  so  exquisite  that  one  wrong  shade  cannot 
escape  his  eye,  that  harmony  of  hues  is  his  soul's 
delight,  I  marvel  that  that  man's  eye  has  never 
pierced  the  blue,  and  caught  the  sparkle  of  the  gems 
that  glow  with  matchless  dyes  upon  the  gates  of  the 
eternal  city.  A  man  whose  ear  is  all  attuned  to 
melody,  who  has  brought  music  to  its  highest 
earthly  perfection,  and  stands  entranced  by  the 
sweetness  of  its  passing  tones,  I  marvel  that  he 
never  hears  the  ringing  of  the  harps  of  heaven. 
And  he  who  has  lifted  his  affections  until  no  touch 
of  grossness  ever  defiles  them,  who  has  made  them 
pure  as  crystal  from  the  taint  of  life's  vulgarity,  I 


44  LIVING   WORDS   FTOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

marvel,  more  and  more,  that  along  their  edges 
plays  no  fire  from  the  celestial  treasury  of  love — 
that  as  the  lightning  from  the  earth  leaps  forth  and 
joins  and  mingles  with  the  lightning  from  the  cloud, 
his  love  is  not  touched  and  intensified  by  the  love 
of  God.  What  rapine !  what  havoc  !  when  such  an 
one — his  life  being  touched — goes  forth,  naked  and 
alone,  to  find  that  he  has  stopped  infinitely  short  of 
any  preparation  which  could  make  the  happiness  of 
Heaven  possible  to  him. 


MEN  who  concentrate  themselves  all  upon  one 
point  may  be  sharp,  acute,  pungent — they  may 
have  spear-like  force  of  character,  but  they  are 
never  broad  and  round,  never  of  full-proportioned 
manhood ;  which  can  only  be  obtained  by  the 
carrying  forward  of  the  whole  of  a  man  in  an  even- 
breasted  march. 


MANY  a  man  never  sees  into  heaven,  till  he  sees 
there  through  the  grave  of  his  little  child,  or  till  he 
loses  his  wife,  not  only  the  better  half,  but  often  the 
whole  better  part  of  himself.  That  unutterable  loss 
which  darkens  the  house,  which  darkens  life  itself ; 
which  takes  the  breath  out  of  the  years,  and  leaves 
a  man  to  go  staggering  through  the  world,  like  one 
smitten  at  noonday  with  blindness. 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  45 

To  some  it  is  appointed  to  wander  in  Gethsemane, 
having  no  variation  to  their  lives  except  a  walk 
over  to  Calvary.  There  are  faces  lifted  up  to  me 
from  this  congregation,  into  which  I  cannot  look 
without  revelations  of  their  owners'  peculiar  histo 
ries,  which  seem  like  flashes  from  another  world. 
They  sit  calm  and  still  before  me  ;  but  I  know  that 
no  scorpions  or  vipers  can  sting  as  they  are  stung 
through  every  one  of  their  best  affections.  Every 
day  their  tears  fall.  For  years  and  years  they 
have  borne  this,  and  yet  they  can  bear  witness  that 
through  faith  they  have  been  enabled  to  endure. 
More ;  that  though  they  expect  no  relief,  faith  will 
support  them  to  the  end.  Is  religion,  then,  a  fan 
tasy,  when  it  can  so  uphold  the  soul  amid  all  the 
waves  of  trouble  ?  I  tell  you  no.  Let  who  chooses 
to  do  so,  swelter  in  philosophical  anguish  ;  I  prefer 
to  stand  serene  upon  my  Christian  faith  and  hope. 
You  may  scoff  at  it  and  call  it  folly.  I  tell  you  it 
is  a  very  comfortable  thing  to  find  refuge  from  every 
distressful  and  corroding  care  in  the  love  of  God. 


I  THINK  no  man  could  have  his  arm  rot  and  drop 
away,  from  wrist  to  shoulder,  and  not  know  it ;  but 
you  shall  find  numberless  men  whose  consciences 

have  rotted,  from  circumference  to  core,  and  they 

« 

know  nothing  about  it.     They  are  less  concerned 


46  LIVING    WOKDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

about  themselves  than  when  the  corruption  first 
began.  This  silence  of  the  hollowing  out  of  a  man 
— this  noiseless  process  of  preparing  him  for  de 
struction,  is  an  element  of  very  great  fearfulness. 
It  fills  me  with  grief  and  sadness,  as  I  look  on  men, 
to  know  that  as  the  snow  falls,  flake  by  flake,  and 
no  sound  tells  of  its  accumulation — that  as  the  dust 
sifts  in,  and  no  noise  warns  of -its  choking  rise,  so 
silently,*  so  surely,  man  is  heaping  to  himself  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath,  and  does  not  know  it. 


SHE  was  a  woman,  and  by  so  much  nearer  to  God 
as  that  makes  one. 


LIVE  not  for  selfish  aims.  Live  to  shed  joy  on 
others.  Thus  best  shall  your  own  happiness  be 
secured  ;  for  no  joy  is  ever  given  freely  forth  that 
does  not  have  quick  echo  in  the  giver's  own  heart. 


EVEKT  action  of  the  intellect,  save  that  which  is 
purely  scientific,  is  based  upon  some  feeling.  Am 
bition  says  to  intellect,  "  Look  out  for  me ;"  fear 
cries  "  Look  out  for  me."  Greed  also,  "  Arouse, 
sharpen  yourself;  pierce  the  darkness,  teach  me 
how  to  gain ;"  and  love  cries  passionately,  pleading 
ly,  "  Awake,  be  my  advocate,  think,  think  for  me." 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  47 


I  nor  my  family  ever  put  on  the  gar 
ments  of  mourning.  I  will  not  permit  it.  Yet  I 
would  not  refuse  to  those  who  think  differently  from 
me,  the  right  to  change  their  garments  in  memory 
of  their  beloved  dead.  But  do  not  borrow  of  the 
devil  ;  choose  some  color  that  shall  speak  of  hope, 
of  release,  of  victory.  Draw  not  over  yourselves 
the  black  tokens  of  pollution.  Do  not  blaspheme 
by  naming  that  despair  which  is  triumph  and 
eternal  life. 


"  THEREFORE  let  no  man  glory  in  men,  for  all 
things  are  yours.  Whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things 
present,  or  things  to  come,  all  are  yours,  and  ye  are 
Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's."  This  is  a  wonder 
ful  ownership  ;  nowhere  else  in  the  world  is  there 
such  an  one.  The  time  is  coming  when  even  to  the 
grosser  property  of  earth  this  will  apply ;  for  the 
heirs  of  heaven  are  not  to  be  forever  the  paupers 
of  earth ;  but  now  it  is  true  of  all  things  pertaining 
to  the  realm  of  mind.  The  things  our  Father  made 
are  ours,  not  in  the  sense  of  our  having  any  right 
to  deprive  others  of  them,  but  ours  as  our  earthly 
father's  home  and  goods  were  ours  in  the  days  of 
our  childhood.  "Were  not  our  parents,  our  brothers 
and  sisters,  was  not  the  infant  sleeping  in  its  cradle, 
ours  ?  Was  not  the  shelter  of  the  roof-tree  ours  ? 


48  LIVING    WORDS    FEOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

Was  not  the  homestead  ours  ?  "Were  not  the  fields, 
the  gardens,  the  trees,  the  flowers,  ours,  in  the  full 
heart-possession,  which  is  the  interior,  the  true 
ownership.  Were  they  not  just  as  sensibly  our 
own  as  though  we  alone  possessed  them  ?  And 
were  they  not  ours  because  we  were  the  children  of 
our  father  ?  And  were  they  any  the  less  ours  be 
cause  they  belonged  to  our  brothers  just  the  same  ? 
If  we  are  the  children  of  God,  we  are  the  owners 
of  all  the  good  things  in  the  universe.  Read  here 
the  title ;  it  has  our  Father's  seal.  We  read  of  the 
noble  ones,  the  mighty  and  holy  ones  of  old,  and 
we  say :  "  These  men  are  ours— They  know  it  now, 
for  they  are  where  the  light  is  clear,  and  ere  many 
days  they  will  give  us  loving  welcome. 

We  stand  before  the  gifted,  refined,  and  noble 
men  of  our  own  time  ;  they  do  not  know  or  heed  us, 
but  they  are  ours,  as  we  are  theirs,  and  soon  we 
shall  rejoice  together  in  the  glad  possession.  We 
walk  among  the  well-known  princes  of  reform  and 
progress.  They  have  an  influence  over  us,  that  we 
cannot  resist — they  make  us  laugh  or  weep — they 
steal  our  hearts,  they  direct  our  thoughts,  but  they 
regard  us  not  amid  the  crowds  that  flock  to  hear 
them.  They  do  not  see  or  know  their  brothers,  but 
we  know  them  right  well,  and  we  bide  our  time ; 
eternity  is  long — there  is  no  haste  there — no  over 
work,  no  weariness,  and  no  indifference  or  misinter- 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  49 

pretation,  and  those  great,  rich  souls  shall  yet  ac 
knowledge  and  receive  us.  We  are  among  them 
now,  as  a  disguised  man  in  his  father's  house. 
He  sees  his  parents  and  his  brethren,  and  he  is 
happy  to  be  with  them,  though  they  know  him 
not.  He  knows  them  well,  and  he  can  afford  to 
wait  awhile  until  they  discover  him.  The  Christian 
who  lives  near  to  God,  finds  a  fulfillment  of  the 
promise  that  whoever  for  Christ's  sake  forsakes 
aught,  shall  receive  in  this  world  many  fold  more 
than  he  loses.  But  oh  !  that  world  to  come  !  that 
world  eternal  which  is  also  ours  !  Why  should  any 
Christian  feel  himself  poor?  I  believe  there  is  no 
feeling  more  universal  in  the  human  heart  than 
that  of  loneliness.  At  the  outset  of  life  every  face 
glows ;  every  heart  has  its  high  hopes,  and  no  one 
thinks  much  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  things 
of  time  ;  but  when  the  middle  hours  of  life  draw 
on,  not  more  than  one-third  of  the  faces  are  still 
bright — two-thirds  are  disappointed  and  almost  dis 
couraged.  When  the  evening  comes,  not  more 
than  one  in  a  thousand  carries  the  light  still  in  his 
eye  and  on  his  forehead.  The  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  have  fallen  by  the  way.  They  have 
tasted  the  cold  selfishness  of  the  world  ;  their  breasts 
and  their  sides  have  been  pierced  by  the  jagged 
points  and  the  poisoned  thorns  against  which  rude 

winds   and  struggling  waves,  have  dashed  them. 

3 


50  LIVING   WOKDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

They  have  felt  the  utter  insufficiency  of  human 
help  and  sympathy ;  and  it  has  been  well  for  them, 
if  instead  of  lying  down  in  the  bitterness  of  despair, 
they  have  turned  for  what  they  so  greatly  needed  to 
the  only  fountain  of  availing  sympathy  and  aid. 
"  Alone !  alone  !"  has  been  and  is  the  wail  of  every 
human  heart  that  has  not  been  satisfied  by  the 
love  of  God.  And  the  Christian,  while  on  earth,  is 
subject  to  seasons  of  the  same  distress,  when  he  will 
feel  unknown,  unloved,  forsaken  of  his  kind.  But 
he  knows  that  'tis  only  for  a  moment  that  his  deso 
lation  can  endure,  and  then  he  will  enter  where 
all  are  his,  and  where  they  all  will  own  him.  Then, 
when  he  walks  with  wings  and  not  with  feet,  he 
may  measure  his  possessions,  and  never  again  will 
his  heart  be  cold,  or  lone,  or  sad. 

To  some  men  the  mere  fact  of  existence,  the 
simple  walking  through  the  air  and  light,  gives 
more  pleasure  than  others  find  in  the  whole  round 
of  so-called  pleasures. 

PAUL  was  converted  as  the  germ  of  a  peach 
sprouts.  It  splits  its  shell  clear  off,  and  has  free 
room  to  root  and  grow.  Many  conversions  only 
crack  the  shell;  and  it  is  worn  so  long  that  the 
man's  Christian  character  is  stunted  and  shallow  for 
his  whole  life. 


LIVING    WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  51 

To  live  altogether  in  the  affections  is  not  safe. 
Death  will  overleap  the  fold,  and  bear  away  the 
precious  lambs  that  are  therein  ;  and  then  the  man 
will  go  wailing  through  the  world,  shorn  of  all  that 
was  life  to  him.  A  man's  life  should  not  "  consist 
in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesseth." 


WE  are  all  writing  books — histories  of  our  own 
lives,  and  we  can  omit  nothing,  soften  nothing. 
Only  the  naked  truth  can  be  marked  upon  those 
pages. 

LET  your  sorrows,  when  they  rise  and  swell,  be 
like  the  waves  of  the  Sound,  when  they  at  night 
flash  forth  their  glories  of  phosphorescent  light — or 
like  the  clouds  that  reflect  the  sunlight  glorified. 


IT  is  a  bad  thing  to  live  exclusively  in  taste  and 
refinement.  It  begets  a  very  wicked  sort  of  selfish 
ness.  The  man  who  lives  too  much  in  these  facul 
ties  will  be  perpetually  stumbling  upon  things 
shocking  to  his  feelings,  for  God  forgot  to  polish  all 
the  rocks  in  this  world.  He  didn't  make  trees  all 
smooth.  There  are  a  thousand  things  that  he  didn't 
put  velvet  on.  It's  a  pity  men  should  grow  too  re 
fined  to  keep  company  with  God  in  his  provi 
dences. 


52  LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

I  WILL  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God ;  I  will 
make  it  to  bear  hardest  and  hottest,  and  to  cast  its 
light  strongest  and  clearest  on  the  most  open  and 
obstinate  sins.  I  will  bring  it  down  hissing  hot 
upon  the  hydra-headed  monster,  that  many  think  it 
best  to  pat  and  soothe.  I  will,  while  the  Lord 
spares  my  breath,  cry  aloud,  and  loudest  when  men 
would  fain  teach  me  prudent  silence,  "  Woe  unto 
them  that  decree  unrighteous  decrees  ;  that  turn 
aside  the  needy  from  judgment;  that  take  away 
the  right  of  the  poor;  that  make  widows  their 
prey  ;  that  rob  the  fatherless ;  that  oppress  the 
poor  to  increase  their  riches.  Behold,  the  hire  of 
the  laborers  who  have  reaped  down  your  fields, 
which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth ;  and 
the  cries  of  them  which  have  reaped  are  entered 
into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth.  Ye  have 
lived  in  pleasure  on  the  earth,  and  been  wanton ; 
ye  have  condemned  and  killed  the  just,  and  he 
doth  not  resist  you ;  but,  behold,  the  judge  standeth 
before  the  door." 


TEARS  often  prove  the  telescope  by  which  men 
see  far  into  heaven. 


CHRISTIAN  graces  are  natural  faculties  which  have 
blossomed  under  the  influence  of  divine  love. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  53 

SORROWS  are  like  clouds,  which,  though  black 
when  they  are  just  passing  over  us,  when  they  are 
overpast,  become  as  if  they  were  the  garments  of 
God  thrown  off  in  purple  and  gold  along  the  horizon. 


MERCHANTS  who  play  at  snatch  and  grab,  or  at 
pinch  and  squeeze  games,  have  need  to  be  taught 
the  first  principles  of  the  Gospel. 


THIS  world  is  like  a  battle-field  full  of  little  hills 
and  hollows ;  and  to  each  soldier  in  the  war,  the 
small  valley  where  he  fights  seems  the  whole,  or  at 
least  the  chief  part  of  the  field.  He  cannot  see  the 
contest  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill ;  and  he  thinks, 
in  his  small  judgment,  that  as  go  things  in  his  hol 
low,  so  goes  the  whole  battle.  Thus  either  his 
defeat  or  his  victory  looks  to  him  of  far  more  con 
sequence  than  it  really  is.  But  God  looks  at  things 
by  the  whole,  and  in  heaven  he  will  show  them  so 
to  us.  When  we  have  fought  long  in  a  good  cause, 
and  have  been  at  last  thrown  away  backward,  and 
lie  gasping,  perchance  dying,  upon  our  banners,  we 
must  not  think  that  the  good  cause  has  failed. 
God's  work  never  goes  backward.  He  takes  the 
large  view  of  things,  and  when  we  are  come  up  out 
of  the  blood  and  dust  of  conflict,  he  will  show  it 
to  us,  and  we  shall  be  comforted.  For  all  that  I 


54:  LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

know  to  be  right  and  good  I  shall  do  battle  till  I  die. 
For  the  encouragement  and  sympathy  I  have  met, 
I  thank  God.    I  thank  God  also  for  the  contumely 
and  abuse  which  bad  men  have  heaped  upon  me. 
It  is  no  honor  to  be  praised  by  the  selfish  and  evil 
man,   and  the   oppressor;    but  I  would  that  my 
brethren,  the  sons  of  my  Father,  my  fellow  workers 
in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  understood  and  loved 
me.     But  in  one  thing  I  am  superior  to  my  brother 
ministers  who  call  me  so  bad  a  minister :  I  know 
that  many  of  them  are  good  and  true  men,  though 
over  careful  and  most  mistaken  ones,  and  I  know 
that  they  have,  sooner  or  later,  got  to  own  me  for  a 
good  man.      They  are  mine.     They  cannot  help 
themselves.     I  love  all  that  is  good  in  them ;  and 
they  have  got  to  love  me.    There  is  no  escape  for 
them,  "  for  all  things  are  mine,  and  I  am  Christ's, 
and  Christ  is  God's."     Does  any  one  ask  for  the  full 
meaning  of  this    threefold    heart    enshrinement  ? 
They  cannot  have  the  exposition  from  mortal  lips ; 
but  we  shall  all  learn  its  meaning  when  we  get  to 
heaven. 


ONCE  I  thought  of  heaven  with  the  cold  rigid 
thoughts  of  the  old  teaching.  It  was  a  stately, 
solemn,  unnatural  place,  full  of  everlasting  practis 
ing  in  music.  But  now  I  take  the  liberty  of  pro 
phecy.  I  see  that  when  the  oriental  saints,  or 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PDLPIT.  55 

when  Christ  himself  described  that  glorious  place, 
they  made  use  of  whatever  of  earthly  beauty  and 
glory  seemed  greatest  to  those  to  whom  they  were 
speaking  as  images  of  it.  I  do  the  same.  Every 
one  may  do  the  same.  There  is  in  heaven  what 
will  more  than  satisfy  every  mind.  As  a  place  for 
studying  mathematics  it  could  attract  Newton,  but 
I  fear  that  I  should  hardly  want  to  go  there  if  that 
were  to  be  the  employment  of  all.  But  for  my 
nature  there  will  be  abundant  food,  and  for  your 
natures,  too,  all  various  as  they  are.  There  is  not  a 
day  passes  over  me  here,  that  I  do  not  sicken  at 
some  unworthiness  or  hypocrisy ;  but  I  think 
"  Yonder  there  can  enter  nothing  that  defileth,  or 
that  maketh  a  lie."  Not  a  day  but  what  tears 
start  to  my  eyes  at  the  sight  of  other's  tears ;  but 
I  know  that  there  "there  shall  be  no  more 
sorrow,  nor  crying."  Here,  I  shrink  daily  from 
the  contact  of  those  that  are  mean  and  sordid; 
there,  all  is  noble  and  generous.  Here,  I  am  often 
chilled  by  want  of  affection ;  there,  all  is  love,  per 
fect  and  undefiled.  Of  whatever  is  most  beloved 
by  me ;  of  all  that  is  most  grand  and  glorious ;  of 
all  that  is  most  warm,  winning  and  delightful,  I 
can  think  and  yet  be  sure  that  I  have  not  risen  to 
a  tithe  of  the  warmth  and  beauty  of  the  glorious 
home  awaiting  the  sons  of  God — the  joint  heirs  of 
Jesus  Christ. 


56  LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PCLPIT. 

THERE  is  scarce  a  time  when  men  meet  to 
gether,  when  they  could  not,  if  they  listened  for  it, 
hear  the  sharp,  shrill  singing  of  ten  thousand 
petty  bees  buzzing  around  them.  Men  have  vio 
lated  truth  so  long,  that  they  have  come  to  lie 
almost  unconsciously. 


A  MAN'S  religion  is  not  a  thing  all  made  in 
heaven,  and  then  let  down,  and  shoved  into  him. 
It  is  his  own  conduct  and  life.  A  man  has  no  more 
religion  than  he  acts  out  in  his  life. 


"  TAKE  no  thought  for  the  morrow,"  that  is,  no 
anxious,  fretful  thought.  Walk  through  to-day  as 
well  as  you  can,  and  God  will  undertake  for  your 
future.  When  you  go  forward  out  of  to-day,  to 
worry  about  it,  you  are  over  the  fence,  you  are 
trespassing,  and  God  will  scourge  you  back  into 
your  own  lot.  When  I  have  been  fishing  in  a 
mountain  stream,  I  have  always  found  that  so  long 
as  I  kept  a  short  line  I  could  manage  my  fishing 
very  well ;  but  when  I  let  my  line  run  out,  the 
stream  took  it  down,  and  there  I  was,  at  the  mercy 
of  every  stick  that  stuck  up  in  the  stream,  and  every 
rock  that  jutted  out  from  the  banks.  I  lost  my 
fish  and  I  tangled  my  line  ;  very  likely  I  lost  my 
footing  also,  and  got  over  head  and  ears  in  the 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  57 

stream.  Now,  most  men  have  cast  out  their  line 
into  life  forty  years  long,  when  it  ought  to  be  but 
one  day  long.  In  consequence,  they  are  not  able  to 
manage  their  tackle  at  all ;  but  are  pulled  after  it, 
stumbling  first  into  this  hole,  and  then  into  that ; 
slipping  up  here,  and  slipping  down  there,  strug 
gling  and  splashing  about  in  far  more  distressed 
fashion  than  the  fish  at  the  other  end  of  the  line — 
and,  as  a  general  thing,  there  is  no  fish  there. 
Haul  in  your  line  ! ! 

BEFORE  men  we  stand  as  opaque  beehives.  They 
can  see  the  thoughts  go  in  and  out  of  us  ;  but  what 
work  they  do  inside  of  a  man  they  cannot  tell. 
Before  God  we  are  as  glass  beehives,  and  all  that 
our  thoughts  are  doing  within  us  he  perfectly  sees 
and  understands. 


CAUTION  and  conservatism  are  expected  of  old 
age  ;  but  when  the  young  men  of  a  nation  are  pos 
sessed  of  such  a  spirit,  when  they  are  afraid  of  the 
noise  and  strife  caused  by  the  new  applications  of 
the  truth,  Heaven  save  the  land  !  Its  funeral  bell 
has  already  rung. 

CHRISTIANS  who  are  forever  living  on  their  own 
experiences,  are  like  a  leaf  which  has  got  into  an 

eddy  in  the  river,  where  it  keeps  whirling  round 

3* 


58  LIVING    WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

and  round  in  its  own  track.  You  shall  see  it  there, 
whirling  ;  and  shall  go  away  and  sleep,  and  in  the 
morning  you  shall  come  again  and  find  the  leaf 
there  still.  At  noon  there  it  is,  and  when  night 
comes  it  is  still  nothing  but  whirl,  whirl,  whirl. 
Working,  travelling,  hard  enough,  to  be  sure,  but 
making  no  progress.  Now,  let  something  break  it 
loose  from  that  whirlpool,  and  away  it  will  go, 
merrily  down  the  stream.  Too  much  looking  back 
ward  and  inward  is  bad  for  piety  and  progression. 


THE  assertion  that  the  "  common  people  "  heard 
Christ  gladly,  seems  to  imply  that  the  higher 
classes  cared  but  little  for  him. 


THE  Bible  don't  pretend  to  teach  fully  of  any 
thing  save  man's  lost  condition,  and  of  his  way  of 
returning  to  God.  The  truth  of  it  is  not  a  subject 
for  logic;  it  can  only  be  tested  by  consciousness 
and  experience.  To  test  the  truth  of  a  Christian's 
experience  try  the  life  of  a  Christian.  Go  on  your 
knees  before  God.  Bring  all  your  idols,  bring  self- 
will,  and  pride,  and  every  evil  lust  before  him,  and 
give  them  up.  Devote  yourself,  heart  and  soul,  to  his 
will  and  see  if  you  do  not  "  know  of  the  doctrine." 

This  is  the  only  way  to  examine,  and  study  into 
Bible  truths ;  and  none  that  ever  tried  this  way  till 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  59 

their  hearts  grew  warm  with  love  to  Christ  ever 
had  much  trouble  about  doubting  the  truths  of 
revelation.  There  are  men  who  are  avowedly  try 
ing  to  get  rid  of  the  Bible,  and  there  are  other  men 
who  sorrowfully  fear  that  it  must  be  given  up. 
But  destroy  it,  and  what  then  ? 

Why  we  should  be  like  men  who  had  burned  up 
all  the  wills  and  title  deeds  which  would  have  given 
them  a  large  estate — or,  like  sick  and  wounded 
men,  who  had  destroyed  all  the  means  of  relief. 
Suppose  that  the  wounded  men  in  the  Crimean  hos 
pitals  had  raised  an  insurrection.  Suppose  that  one 
man,  having  lost  a  leg,  had  said  to  another  who  had 
lost  an  arm,  and  to  another  with  a  part  of  his  head 
and  features  shot  away :  "  Come,  let  us  take  no 
more  of  this  medicine.  Let  us  put  an  end  to  the 
directions  and  attentions  of  these  doctors  and 
nurses ;"  and  suppose  that  then  the  poor  wretches 
had  hobbled  up  and  turned  all  their  kind  and  skill 
ful  physicians  out  of  doors ;  had  ejected  Florence 
Nightingale  after  them,  and  flung  the  nurses  and  the 
medicines,  and  all  the  surgeon's  instruments  out  of 
the  windows.  "Would  all  this  have  done  them  any 
good? 

They  would  thus  have  got  rid  of  all  who  could 
have  helped  them,  but  while  the  doctors,  and 
nurses,  and  the  remedies  and  balm  for  the  wounds, 
were  all  outside  of  the  walls,  the  wounds  and  putri- 


60  LIVING   WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

fyiug  sores,  the  burning  anguish   and  tormenting 
pain  would  all  have  continued  within. 

But  what  is  a  Crimean  hospital  to  this  groaning 
world  ?  this  lazar-house  of  corruption  and  woe,  that 
goes  swinging  through  the  ages  to  one  unceasing 
anthem  of  pain.  Men  would  make  their  fate  utterly 
hopeless,  their  damnation  doubly  sure,  could  they 
extinguish  the  only  light  which  can  lead  them  from 
that  door  of  unrepented  sin,  whose  horror  is  that  it 
forever  gathers  blackness  as  it  rolls  and  rolls  through 
out  eternal  night. 


THEEE  are  persons  who  judge  of  Christians  as  a 
man  would  judge  of  apples,  who  should  enter  an 
orchard  and  go  stooping  along  upon  the  ground  in 
search  of  them.  He  picks  up  one,  a  hard,  green 
thing,  no  bigger  than  a  walnut.  He  bites  it ;  it  is 
sour  and  bitter ;  it  puckers  up  his  mouth  and  sets  his 
teeth  on  edge.  "  Ha !"  he  says,  throwing  the  un 
timely  fruit  away,  "  I  hear  them  speak  of  apples  as 
being  so  delicious — I'm  sure  I  don't  think  much  of 
this  one." 

He  picks  up  another  which  looks  yellow.  There's 
a  hole  in  it,  but  he  don't  know  what  that  means,  so 
he  bites  into  it  and  finds  a  worm. 

"  Bah !  apples  !  delicious  indeed  !"  he  cries  in 
disgust ;  and  then  picks  up  a  third  which  is  crushed 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  61 

by  his  touch,  for  it  is  rotten.  So  he  condemns 
apples,  because  he  has  looked  for  them  upon  the 
ground  instead  of  on  the  trees  above  his  head,  where 
they  hang  ripe,  juicy,  and  luscious,  a  chief  treasure 
of  autumn. 

Just  so  men  judge  of  Christians  so  long  as  they 
take  for  fair  samples  those  that  lie  rotten  on  the 
ground. 


THE  young  minister,  having  just  finished  his 
course,  sometimes  says,  "  Now  here  1  am,  poor, 
miserable  sinner  that  I  am,  with  the  harvest  of 
twenty  years'  study  in  my  brain ;  what  must  I  do 
with  myself?  Must  all  this  learning,  must  my 
powers  and  genius  be  buried  in  some  obscure  ham 
let  1  No  I  I  must  have  a  field  worthy  of  my  tal 
ents."  And  so  he  is  found  hanging  about  the  pur 
lieus  of  large  towns  and  cities,  waiting  for  vacancies 
in  distinguished  places.  If  he  gets  such  a  place  as 
he  thinks  worthy  of  him,  he  soon  gets  a  hint  from 
his  own  people  that  he  had  better  go  down  lower ; 
and  then  he  gets  the  bronchitis,  or  is  called  to  a 
professorship,  or  something  of  that  sort  (for  people 
will  lie  like  witches  about  this  sort  of  thing) ;  and 
his  people  will  endow  a  professorship  and  place 
their  D.D.  there  in  order  to  get  rid  of  him  respect 
ably  when  he  has  used  himself  tip  on  their  hands. 


62  LIVING   WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

The  story  that  goes  out  to  the  world  is :  "  The  Rev. 
Dr.  So-and-so  was  called  to  take  a  professor's  seat, 
and  has  therefore  resigned  the  charge  of  his  people 
for  this  new,  and  in  some  respects,  more  important 
field  of  labor." 

Now,  to  all  in  general,  but  to  young  ministers  in 
particular,  does  Christ's  injunction  to  take  first  the 
lowest  seat,  apply.  It  is  sense  and  sound  philoso 
phy  as  well  as  proper  humility  to  do  so.  The  call 
will  be  "  Come  up  higher "  as  soon  as  the  man 
has  filled  and  made  to  overflow  the  first  place 
assigned  him.  Learn  from  nature  how  to  become 
great  and  strong.  Look  at  the  acorn — it  is  content 
to  go  into  the  ground  and  be  covered — it  is  content 
to  lie  long  in  darkness  hidden  away  from  the  know 
ledge  of  all.  And  what  then?  Why  then  it  is 
content  to  be  a  little  germ  no  larger  than  a  knit 
ting-needle  ;  and  what  then  ?  Why  then  it  goes  on 
for  a  long  time  striking  its  roots  hither  and  thither, 
grappling  itself  more  and  more  firmly  into  the 
earth,  working  with  all  its  strength  under  ground. 
And  then  ?  Why  then  it  is  content  to  be  for  a 
whole  year,  a  single  shoot  no  bigger  than  a  whip  ; 
and  for  another  year  it  is  content  to  be  two  shoots  ; 
the  third  to  have  its  shoots  grow  a  little  longer  and 
be  headed  by  green  tips.  And  for  ten  years  it 
grows  no  larger  than  that  a  man's  strength  can  up 
root  it ;  but  in  fifteen  or  twenty  years  it  is  beyond 


LIVING   WORDS    FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  63 

the  strength  of  man ;  and  in  thirty  or  forty  years 
it  stands  aloft — a  wrestler  with  the  winds,  able  to 
take  a  hug  with  storm  and  winter.     In  fifty  or  a 
hundred  years,  tempests  cannot  upheave  it  from  the 
earth ;  its  foundations  are  as  the  rock ;  they  cannot 
be  shaken.     Thus  should  it  be  with  man.     Art 
called  to  be  a  scullion   or   a   street- cleaner  ?   act 
well  your  humble  part  and  you  shall  soon  find 
yourself  in  one  that  is  higher ;  but  be  sure  that  God 
will  never  commence  for  you  the  work  of  saintship 
where  you  are  not,  but  where  you  are.    Fill  full, 
of  yourself,  the  spot  where  God  has  placed  you ; 
grow  daily  till  the  place  overflows  with  you,  and 
your  borders  will  surely  be  enlarged.     So  shall  you 
rise  upward,  step  by  step,  on  secure  footing,  until 
at  last  you  shall  sit  down  in  that  highest  of  all 
apartments  from  which,  since  its  name  is  heaven, 
none  are  ever  ejected. 


MY  heart  is  sick !  I  see  men  going  to  destruc 
tion  on  every  hand,  and  I  have  no  power  to  stay 
them. 

"What  a  business  is  that  of  a  preacher.  What  a 
calling  is  that  which  sends  one  to  seek  men's  souls 
even  at  the  very  gates  of  perdition,  and  often 
vainly — only  now  and  then  one  rescued.  If  you 
could  know  what  causes  lie  at  the  foundation  of 


64:  LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

this  and  that  sermon  that  I  preach  here,  with  my 
soul  faint  with  yearning  over  this  one  and  that  in 
this  great  congregation,  you  would  not  wonder  that 
I  say  I  feel  crushed,  overborne,  by  the  weight  that 
is  upon  me. 

THERE  are  some  men  who  are  so  proud  that  they 
don't  intend  to  enter  the  church  until  they  become 
so  good  that  they  can  confer  an  honor  upon  the 
church  by  entering  it.  They  say,  "  Look  out  for  a 
striking  conversion,  and  for  a  high-toned,  consistent 
Christian  life,  when  I  start.  I'll  set  an  example  to 
those  members  who  are  such  a  disgrace  to  the 
church  that  I,  sinner  as  I  am,  am  ashamed  of  them." 
Ah !  self-deluded  man,  you  never  will  get  God  to 
dwell  in  your  heart  until  it  comes  out  of  that  proud 
frame.  He  don't  expect  you  to  confer  honor  on  his 
church  by  entering  it,  at  least  not  in  the  way  you 
imagine.  You  have  got  to  go  in  through  the  door 
of  humility ;  you  have  got  to  come  to  that  state  in 
which  you  shall  forget  everything  but  that  you  are 
a  lost  and  ruined  sinner,  and  that  your  only  hope, 
as  the  only  hope  of  a  murderer,  is  in  him  who  will 
accept  nothing  but  a  broken  and  contrite  heart. 
The  language  of  a  man  entering  the  church  is  not, 
"  I  have  become  so  good,  that  I  will  now  join 
myself  to  the  members  of  Christ,  and  thenceforth 
be  a  pattern  to  all  who  know  me,  and  an  honor  to 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  65 

God  ;>5  it  is,  "  I  have  discovered  my  lost  and 
wretched  condition,  and  that  I  am  too  weak  to 
stand  alone.  I  have  cast  my  soul  upon  Christ's 
mercy,  and  I  beseech  his  children,  if  there  is  any 
strength  or  safety  in  the  church,  to  take  me  in  and 
watch  over  and  help  me."  When  you  have  been 
humbled  then  you  may  be  lifted  up,  but  "  before 
honor  goeth  humility."  Suppose  one  went  to  the 
wheat,  as  it  waved  in  the  field,  and  said  :  "  Would 
you  like  to  be  made  into  a  loaf  for  the  queen?" 
"Yes,"  answers  the  wheat,  "oh!  yes,  we  should 
like  to  be  presented  to  the  queen,"  and  on  it  waves, 
swelling  with  pride  at  the  thought  of  its  conse 
quence.  But  the  reaper  comes,  and  the  wheat  gets 
a  stroke  at  the  roots  and  is  laid  prostrate.  "  Alas !" 
it  sighs,  "is  this  going  to  the  queen  f"  But  there  it 
lies,  dying  in  the  scorching  sun ;  and  then  'tis 
drawn  to  the  threshing  floor,  and  bruised  and 
beaten  without  mercy.  After  this  'tis  winnowed, 
and  then  tied  up  in  darkness  and  carried  to  the 
mill.  "Is  not  this  almost  over?"  cries  the  poor 
wheat,  but  'tis  poured  into  the  hopper  and  ground 
to  powder.  Then  'tis  pressed  and  packed,  and  that 
is  not  all.  It  is  mixed  with  water ;  it  is  worked 
and  kneaded;  it  is  subjected  to  various  rapid 
changes,  and  finally  to  the  process  of  cutting  and 
shaping  into  loaves.  "  Ah  !  shall  I  not  rest  now?" 
sighs  the  poor  wheat.  "  Yes ;  now  you  may  rest," 


66  LIVING    WORDS    FEOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

says  the  baker ;  and  forthwith  shoves  the  loaf  into 
a  heated  oven.  "When  baked,  and  not  till  then,  it 
is  fit  to  be  eaten ;  and  is  presented  to  the  queen. 
If  God  intends  to  honor  you  by  allowing  you  to 
honor  him,  he  will  lay  you  low,  he  will  flail  you, 
he  will  winnow  you  and  grind  you,  he  will  knead 
and  fashion  you,  and  pass  you  through  the  fire ;  and 
then  you  will  have  discovered  what  it  is  needful  to 
do  with  pride. 

MEN  should  all  have  their  feet  on  the  same  level, 
with  leave  to  grow  as  high  as  they  can  from  the 
charter  God  put  in  their  souls.  Oregon  pines  are 
three  hundred  feet  high — how  solitary  their  tops 
must  be ;  but  they  start  from  the  same  place  that 
the  shrub  does. 


SOME  men — good  men  after  a  fashion,  think  there 
is  nothing  in  the  world  so  hard  as  that  they  are  not 
so  high  now  as  they  have  been.  Their  pride  and 
their  vanity  suffer.  "What  is  the  trouble,  friend ; 
can't  you  walk  down  there  ? 

"  Oh,  yes." 

"  Can't  you  procure  enough  to  eat  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes." 

"  Have  you  not  shelter  ?" 

«  Yes,  I  have." 


LIVING    WORDS    FEOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  67 

"  And  clothes !" 

"  Well,  yes." 

"  Can't  you  get  along  comfortably  ?" 

"Yes;  but  then  I  used  to  live  in  a  four-story 
house,  and  move  in  higher  society.  And  my  child 
ren  are  not  where  I  intended  that  they  should 
be,"  etc. 

Man !  are  you  a  child  of  God  ?  Have  you  not 
the  inheritance  of  the  universe  by  reversion? 
Only  wait  awhile.  Have  you  not  the  sympathy 
and  love  of  your  Father,  and  a  birth-right  to  eter 
nity?  What  are  you  grumbling  at?  Stand  up 
right  like  a  man,  a  prince.  Lift  up  your  front  and 
say  in  true  manliness,  "  I  can  afford  to  stand  in  the 
valley.  I  think  I  could  stand  safely  on  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  but  there  are  many  there  who  could 
not  afford  to  stand  in  the  valley  with  me. 


PRAYER  covers  the  whole  of  a  man's  life.  There 
is  no  thought,  feeling,  yearning,  or  desire,  how 
ever  low,  trifling,  or  vulgar  we  may  deem  it, 
which,  if  it  affects  our  real  interest  or  happiness, 
we  may  not  ]ay  before  God  and  be  sure  of  his  sym 
pathy.  His  nature  is  such  that  our  often  coming 
does  not  tire  him.  The  whole  burden  of  the  whole 
life  of  every  man  may  be  rolled  onto  God  and  not 
weary  him,  though  it  has  wearied  the  man. 


68  LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

Some  may  be  content  to  regard  God  as  a  being 
of  crystalline  purity  and  awful  majesty,  to  be  wor 
shipped  afar  off,  and  not  troubled  with  the  details 
of  daily  life  and  conflict;  but  others  need  a  God  to 
whom  they  can  come  near,  and  on  whose  bosom 
they  can  lean  their  heads,  and  be  welcome  there. 
They  think  of  him  nine  times  with  a  gush  of  filial 
love,  where  they  do  so  once  with  solemn  and 
shivering  awe.  They  know  that  he  loves  each  one 
of  his  children  with  a  separate  and  peculiar  love, 
and  that  he  knows  each  one  by  name. 

Pray  out  your  life  to  God.  "  Be  instant  in 
prayer,"  and  the  only  way  to  do  this,  is  to  go  to 
him  in  all  moods  ;  in  joy  and  sorrow,  in  depression 
and  mirth,  in  hope  and  fear ;  with  everything  that 
is  in  you,  or  that  touches  you.  Confide  in  God — 
make  him  your  familiar  friend.  Keep  open  the 
path  from  your  heart  to  the  heart  of  God,  and  let 
airy  feet  be  always  treading  its  trackless  way. 

There  is  prayer  that  is  too  deep  for  words,  or 
even  groans.  Have  you  never  lain  prostrate 
before  God  in  the  consciousness  that  his  eye  was 
reading  all  that  you  could  not  tell  him? 

No  need  to  explain  things  to  God,  as  one  must 
do  to  the  dearest  human  friend.  ~No  fear  of  his 
betraying  what  we  pour  into  his  ear.  Come 
boldly  and  gladly  to  his  feet;  let  him  be  to  you 
as  sunshine  on  the  mountains,  to  attract  and  warm, 


LIVING    WOBDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  69 

rather  than  as  the  shadows  of  those  mountains 
which  can  only  awe. 

The  heart  that  cannot  open  to  the  eye  of  man 
goes  naked  and  open  into  the  presence  of  its  God. 
There,  all  the  sealed  fountains  are  unclosed  ;  there, 
all  the  secrets  which  must  ever  be  secrets  from  the 
nearest  and  most  beloved  earthly  friend,  are  dis 
closed,  and  the  shrinking  and  sensitive  soul  has  no 
reserve.  Thus,  we  have  sat  down  in  the  forest  on 
a  summer's  day,  and  as  long  as  men  and  boys 
tramped  by,  and  the  clatter  and  clash  of  business 
was  heard,  there  was  no  movement  in  the  forest ; 
but  when  the  din  had  ceased,  when  the  footsteps 
had  died  away,  and  we  sat  motionless  as  the  tree 
which  supported  us,  there  was  a  twitter  overhead, 
and  then  an  answer  from  another  tree-top.  Then  out 
hopped  a  bird,  and  lifted  up  its  voice  in  song,  and 
then  a  squirrel  ran  along  the  ground,  and  one  by 
one  all  the  mysteries  and  confidences  of  the  forest 
were  revealed  to  us.  Thus  unfolds  the  soul  of  man 
when  none  but  God  is  near ;  when  it  is  hungering 
and  thirsting  after  either  the  higher  or  the  lower 
wants  of  life  ;  when  it  is  yearning  for  its  Father,  or 
when  it  is  home-sick  for  heaven. 

There  be  ecstacies  in  prayer,  when  the  soul 
exults  like  birds  on  a  fair  morning  in  spring ;  and 
there  be  agonies  of  prayer,  when  the  burden  of 
the  soul  cannot  be  even  groaned  out.  We  must 


70  LIVING   WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

bear  the  burden  of  Christ,  the  burden  of  souls; 
this  he  permits,  and  when  we  are  before  God, 
wrestling  for  the  brother,  the  child,  the  loved  friend 
of  whatever  name,  when  we  think  of  that  dear 
soul,  glowing  amid  everlasting  light,  or  wailing 
amid  everlasting  shadows,  what  words  can  ease 
us? 

It  is  not  truth  nor  philosophy  to  say  that  prayer 
alters  nothing,  that  the  laws  of  nature  are  fixed, 
and  tha,t  entreaty  cannot  change  them.  The  laws 
of  nature  are  fixed  on  purpose  to  be  used  for  the 
granting  of  prayer.  Any  man  can  use  the  laws  of 
nature  to  grant  the  requests  of  his  child.  Does  he 
say  that  God,  who  made  those  laws,  cannot  do  as 
much  with  them  as  he  can  ? 

Spontaneity  in  prayer  we  claim,  as  that  which  is 
most  natural  to  us ;  but  far  be  it  from  our  thought 
to  condemn  form  for  those  who  can  thus  pray  best. 
Let  no  man  bind  or  shackle  another  man's  con 
science,  or  try  to  walk  by  another  man's  light.  Let 
each  be  true  to  himself.  Oh !  let  the  soul  alone  ; 
respect  its  moods  and  impulses.  Judge  not  each 
other.  Let  each  sinner  pray  as  best  he  can,  come 
unto  God  as  best  he  may,  but  let  him  come. 

The  soul  of  man  sways  hither  and  thither  like 
the  sea,  tossed  by  restless  yearnings,  and  passions, 
and  fears ;  and  there  is  no  shore  against  which  it 
may  break  and  rest,  but  the  bosom  of  its  God. 


LIVING    WOBDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  71 

CHRIST  spoke  most  to  the  masses  clinging  to  the 
edge  of  life,  struggling,  and  straining  all  their 
nerves  to  keep  from  slipping  off.  Their  most  im 
portant  petition,  the  burden  of  their  daily  cry — 
"  bread,"  "  bread !"  not  "  home,"  "  pleasure," 
"  children,"  but  simply  "  bread." 


I'VE  seen  luxuriant  grasses  growing  on  the  tops 
of  graves;  I've  seen  flowers  springing  from  the 
crevices  of  tombs ;  and  like  these  are  the  fair  and 
lovely  moralities,  and  the  social  virtues  which 
adorn  the  character  of  him  who  is  not  born  of 
God's  Spirit.  The  corpse,  with  its  corruptions,  its 
wasting  flesh,  and  its  decaying  bones,  is  beneath 
the  fragrant  flowers. 


To  understand  how  the  imagery  of  Jesus  seemed 
to  those  who  heard  it,  we  should  try  to  enter  into 
their  circumstances.  To  speak  of  the  delight  and 
refreshment  of  water  in  Great  Britain,  where  it  is 
almost  a  nuisance,  would  be  folly.  To  discourse 
eloquently  of  the  refreshment  of  the  shadow  of  a 
great  rock  to  an  inhabitant  of  mountain  gorges, 
where  sunshine  is  the  thing  desirable,  would  be  a 
waste  of  power  and  time. 

But  when  we  remember  that  in  the  land  where 


72  LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

most  of  the  Scriptures  were  written  there  was,  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  year,  but  burning  and 
scorching  heat;  that  there  was  no  winter,  as  we 
understand  the  term  ;  that  water  was  as  precious  as 
gold  ;  and  that  the  digging  of  a  well  was  the  work 
of  kings  and  princes ;  that  shadow  was  a  luxury,  to 
attain  which  hours  of  sore  and  weary  travel 
ling  were  accounted  well  spent — we  can  better 
understand  the  beauty  and  force  of  such  figures 
as  Jesus  uses  in  speaking  to  the  woman  of 
Samaria. 

Digging  a  well  rendered  a  man  the  benefactor  of 
his  race.  "  Canst  thou  do  more  than  dig  a  well  ?" 
was  the  meaning  of  the  woman's  question  to  Jesus. 
This  discourse  of  Jesus  to  her  is  an  example  of  his 
usual  mode.  Never  did  lie  begin  at  abstractions, 
or  first  things.  He  never  began  by  thinking  way 
back  amid  mist  and  mystery ;  but  from  the  simple, 
every  day  events  of  life  he  took  his  texts,  and 
preached  backward  and  upward  to  principles.  In 
what  entirely  different  keys  were  the  two  (Christ 
and  the  woman)  conversing :  This  was  one  of  those 
double  meaning  conversations  that  Christ  delighted 
in.  The  woman  and  he  were  standing  as  two  might 
stand  with  a  wire  gauze  window-shade  between  them. 
He  that  is  within  the  shade  can  see  out  well  enough, 
but  he  that  is  without  cannot  see  in.  Christ  was 
within ;  he  saw  on  both  sides  of  the  curtain ;  but 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  73 

the  woman  stood  without,  darkly    wondering  of 
what  water  he  was  speaking. 


MEN  should  not  be  mere  indexes ;  not  condensed 
and  abridged  editions ;  they  should  be  themselves 
in  full.  Every  man  has  a  right  to  be  all  that  God 
intended  he  should  be,  all  that  he  has  God's  com 
mission  for  in  his  own  nature.  And  none  have  a 
right  to  hinder  human  growth.  Take  off  the 
millstones  ;  untie  the  bands ;  give  man  room — 
freedom. 


COMMON  things  are  dearer  to  Christ  than  the 
refined  and  exclusive  evolvements  of  culture. 
Things  common  to  all  men  are  more  and  better  in 
his  estimation  than  the  things  that  are  peculiar  to 
a  class. 


THE  Christianity  of  the  present  age  is  dead  com 
pared  with  what  it  should  be.  When  I  lived  out 
West  our  wells  were  all  dug  very  shallow,  and 
when  a  drought  came  the  water  failed.  Then  we 
sent  a  man  down  into  the  well  to  dig  another  with 
in  it,  and  by  and  by  he  came  to  water  far  below 
the  first  well.  But  if  the  rain  was  long  withheld 
this  well  also  failed.  Then  the  man  was  sent  a 
third  time  to  dig  and  dig,  until  at  length  he  struck 

4 


74          LIVING   WOKDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

the  living  springs,  which  flow  perpetually,  which 
no  drought  can  affect.  Many  people  think  that 
after  conversion  religion  will  take  care  of  itself. 
That  water  once  gained  there  will  always  be  a  suffi 
cient  supply.  There  are  whole  churches  whose 
religion  is  but  a  few  feet  deep.  As  long  as  showers 
are  abundant  this  may  do,  but  when  they  do  not 
fall  often  the  wells  are  dry.  Let  this  not  be  so  with 
you.  Sink  the  shaft  deeper  and  deeper  still,  until 
within  you  bubbles  up  that  living  water  which 
runneth  from  beneath  the  throne  of  God.  Don't 
depend  on  showers  of  grace.  Be  not  at  all  content 
until  the  river  is  within  your  own  souls. 

We  must  either  conclude  that  the  piety  of  the 
present  day  is  a  different  thing  from  what  it  was 
intended  by  Christ  to  be,  or  that  he  spoke  the  lan 
guage  of  exaggeration.  That  he  did  not  thus 
speak  we  know  by  the  momentary  elevations  which 
we  experience,  when  we  rise  into  some  nearness 
to  the  place  where  it  is  our  right  always  to  stand  ; 
and  can  return  with  rapture  the  smile  of  our 
Father's  love.  There  are  seasons  when  our  souls 
exhale,  and  sit  singing,  like  birds,  in  the  very  tree 
of  life. 

Oh !  when  I  look  upon  the  sun,  and  see  what  it 
has  power  to  do — when  I  see  that  on  the  barren 
soil  it  flings  a  warm  and  radiant  scarf  of  light,  and 
that  beneath  that  scarf  springs  up  life  \  life !  life !  and 


LIVING   WOEDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  75 

gorgeous  beauty,  and  lavish  and  redolent  bloorn, 
I  know  that  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  has  a  greater 
power  than  this,  if  men's  stiff,  and  frozen  and 
faithless  hearts  will  but  open  themselves  to  his 
rays. 

The  love  of  God  I  who  can  fathom  it  ?  "We  soon 
cloy  with  honey ;  'tis  not  very  hard  to  satisfy  our 
selves  with  sugar;  even  of  bread  we  may  tire  ;  but 
who  ever  tired  of  air  ?  All  day  we  breathe  it ;  at 
morning,  at  noon,  at  night,  all  night — all  our  lives, 
and  we  are  not  weary.  Love  is  the  vital  air  of 
the  soul. 

Every  earthly  pleasure  wearies,  but  of  spiritual 
pleasures  we  never  tire.  The  more  we  are  filled 
with  them  the  more  hungry  and  thirsty  after  them 
we  grow ;  and  we  are  more  sure,  the  more  we 
taste  the  love  of  God,  that  it  can  fill  us,  and  be 
always  about  us,  and  be  always  peace  and  ever 
lasting  joy. 

Why  do  we  not  bud  and  bloom  more  gloriously 
beneath  the  shining  of  this  sun  of  love  ? 

It  is  because  we  have  portioned  him,  we  have 
limited  him,  we  have  not  consecrated  to  him  the 
whole  of  our  lives.  We  give  him  our  Sabbaths,  our 
morning  and  our  evening  hours  of  prayer,  our  feel 
ings  of  solemnity  and  self-condemnation,  our  hours 
of  depression  and  tears ;  we  go  to  him  in  trouble, 
and  gloom,  and  fear,  we  call  upon  him  early  when 


76  LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH   PDLPIT. 

all  is  dark  about  us  ;  but  from  our  business,  from 
our  pleasure,  from  our  social  and  common  life,  we 
put  him  away.  Our  brightest  and  most  agreeable, 
and  our  busiest  and  most  useful  hours  we  keep  for 
ourselves  and  our  fellows ;  but  we  go  with  our  un 
happy  and  unattractive  moods  and  feelings,  with 
long,  forlorn  faces,  and  tearful  eyes,  to  wait  upon 
our  God.  Can  this  be  well-pleasing  in  his  sight  ? 
If  a  lover  or  a  bridegroom  gave  his  chosen  fair  a 
diamond  to  wear  upon  her  breast,  and  she  should 
wear  it  joyfully  at  all  times,  save  when  she  came 
into  his  presence,  and  then  should  carefully  hide  it 
from  sight,  would  he  not  have  a  right  to  complain  ? 
but  what  diamond  ever  sparkled  with  so  radiant  a 
light  as  shines  a  smile  upon  the  human  face,  and 
when  it  is  a  heart-smile,  it  hath  a  priceless  value. 
God  gave  man  power  to  smile — and  man  only,  of 
all  creatures,  possesses  that  power — why  should  he 
seek  to  hide  his  smiles  and  innocent  mirth  from 
him  who  made  and  loves  them? 


Dm  Christ  keep  his  religion  for  the  pulpit,  and 
fear  to  "  degrade  his  office  "  by  mixing  with  and 
trying  to  influence  the  masses  ?  Did  he  attempt  to 
keep  his  disciples  unspotted  from  the  world  by 
shutting  them  from  the  rush  and  turmoil  of  the 
world  ? 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  77 

Consecrating  your  life  to  Christ  is  not  giving 
up  all  the  pleasures  and  beauties  of  life.  Take  all 
of  these  that  he  gives  you,  and  use  them  gladly 
and  gratefully,  as  gifts  from  him,  to  be  resigned  if 
he  so  wills  it.  Be  as  joyful,  as  happy — aye,  as 
merry  as  you  will,  while  the  sunshine  is  upon  you, 
but  when  the  shadows  fall  be  patient ;  and  be 
filled  alway  with  abundant  love  for  him.  Let  that 
love  for  him  go  into  every  act  of  your  life,  whether 
civil  or  religious.  Make  every  act  a  religious 
act. 

When  Christians  learn  to  do  all  things  as  unto 
Christ,  then  will  the  church  arise  and  her  light 
come ;  l>ut  while  religion  and  ministers  are  kept 
pretty  much  confined  to  the  pulpit,  the  prayer-meet 
ing,  the  study,  and  the  family  altar,  darkness  will 
be  on  souls  and  over  the  earth. 

There  are  two  great  difficulties  in  presenting  this 
subject.  One  is  that  you  all  know  so  little  about 
it ;  the  other  is,  that  ./know  so  little  about  it.  We 
have  become  so  accustomed  to  the  cant  of  piety 
— so  satisfied  with  a  heavy  heart,  and  a  solemn 
face,  so  used  to  pray  and  pray,  and  then  go  away 
and  forget  that  every  act  should  be  as  a  prayer; 
that,  say  what  we  may,  we  hardly  realize  that  love 
to  God  should  be  love,  or  that  his  love  to  us  is 
actual  love — a  passion,  warmer  than  ever  swells  in 
human  breast — real,  throbbing,  yearning  love,  that 


78  LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

knows  us  each  by  name,  and  longs  to  have  us  al 
low  him  to  fit  us  for  that  larger  life  where  all  that 
is  here  denied  to  us  shall  be  freely  given. 

For  in.  heaven  the  good  things  that  we  have 
now  but  in  part  shall  be  perfected  ;  and  every  single 
pure  yearning  of  our  nature  shall  be  abundantly 
fulfilled. 

Here  we  are  like  plants  which  the  gardener 
keeps  in  pots  till  they  are  ready  to  be  transplanted. 
Often  we  are  in  every  way  very  much  cramped 
while  here  ;  there  we  shall  have  root  room,  and 
branch  room,  and  the  promise  of  our  nature  shall 
be  more  than  made  good.  "We  shall  be  made  all 
glorious,  and  be  satisfied  with  our  inheritance. 

God  does  not  rnock  us.  He  plants  no  yearning 
in  the  human  soul  which  he  does  not  intend  to 
satisfy  ;  he  gave  no  capacity  which  he  does  not  in 
tend  shall  find  scope  for  everlasting  accomplish 
ment. 

I  apprehend  that  the  words  of  Scripture  are 
often  more  literal  than  we  suppose.  The  Christian 
really  has  truer  possession  of  the  things  that  now 
are,  as  well  as  ownership  of  the  things  that  are  to 
come. 

Alas !  for  the  sorrowful,  the  lonely,  and  the 
hopeless,  that  refuse  their  rightful  inheritance ! 

The  difference  in  the  life  of  a  believer  and  in 
that  of  an  unbeliever  is  the  difference  of  eternity. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  79 

The  latter  plans  for  a  few  years,  eighty  at  most. 
He  says,  "  My  faculties  will  improve  for  so  long, 
and  then  decay  ;  my  genius  will  lighten  for  so 
long,  and  then  grow  dim;  my  friends  are  my 
friends  while  I  live ;  my  children  I  love  for  all  this 
life."  The  whole  range  of  his  thought  of  living  is 
within  a  hundred  years. 

But  the  Christian  says,  "  My  faculties  may  fail 
because  of  the  failing  of  flesh  ;  but  they  will  rally, 
and  open,  and  grow  forever.  I  am  not  improving 
myself  for  a  few  years'  use,  but  for  eternal  ages. 
If  my  genius  slumbers  here,  it  will  awake  yonder, 
beyond  the  stars,  and  sparkle  in  the  brightness  of 
God's  glory.  My  friends,  familiar  and  dear,  are 
to  be  mine,  and  our  love  is  to  strengthen  and  deep 
en  forever.  My  children!  the  grave  may  hide 
them,  but  only  for  a  moment ;  they  are  mine,  for 
the  cycles  of  eternity.  Yea,  and  all  that  is  in  the 
universe  is  mine,  and  God  is  mine,  and  I  am  his 
forever." 


THE  man  who  knows  he  has  but  one  talent  feels 
easier  about  improving  it  than  he  can  who  is  con 
scious  of  possessing  many. 

The  more  a  man  rises  the  more  earnest  is  he  to 
do  the  work  which  he  was  sent  to  do.  Life  seems 
short  and  every  step  of  it  full  of  his  destiny.  No 
can  do  the  work  of  any  other  man. 


80  LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

To  persons  sincerely  anxious  to  leave  the  world 
wiser  and  better  than  they  found  it,  but  who  feel  as 
if  they  were  as  yet  almost  useless  in  their  genera 
tion,  let  this  thought  give  consolation.  Many  per 
sons  live  out  half  their  lives,  some  even  three- 
quarters,  before  they  come  to  the  peculiar  work 
which  they  were  sent  to  do.  Meantime  they  are 
doing  good  by  shedding  a  right  influence. 

The  mourner  over  a  wasted  life  may  yet  be  shown 
that  he  was  fruitful  of  good  when  he  knew  it  not. 
From  him  there  may  be  going  sweet  influences  like 
the  fragrance  of  flowers. 

Some  people  blossom  almost  as  soon  as  they  enter 
life,  and  then  they  depart.  The  flower  that  opens 
when  it  first  breaks  from  the  ground,  and  then 
dies,  is  an  emblem  of  our  infants  that  die.  Yiolets 
are  the  children  and  youth  who  finish  their  mission 
near  life's  entrance,  and  then  depart.  We  mourn 
for  them,  and  say :  "  How  mysterious !  cut  ofi 
when  so  full  of  promise  !"  but  we  should  congratu 
late  them. 

Then  there  are  June  flowers,  and  flowers  that 
do  not  blossom  till  July  or  August.  These  latter, 
and  the  strong  September  flowers,  go  all  the  spring 
time,  and  for  months  after,  gathering  strength  for 
final  putting  forth.  Their  time  has  not  been 
wasted;  though  to  the  eyes  of  those  who  know 
them  not  they  have  seemed  but  idle,  homely  things. 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  81 

4 

When  they  do  put  forth  they  hold  on  bravely  till 
the  frost  kills  leaf  and  flower. 

Let  not  that  man  think  his  life  wasted  who  can 
go  home  to  heaven  bearing  blossoms,  though  late 
blossoms,  on  every  limb. 

There  is  something  beautiful  to  me  in  the  thought 
that  there  is  a  specialty  of  work  for  each  man. 

In  work,  as  in  character,  disposition,  history  and 
destiny,  there  is  a  specialty  ;  and  when  the  church 
arises  to  the  New  Jerusalem  it  will  not  be  to  sit  there 
as  one  vast  photographic  likeness,  nor  shall  one  be 
able  to  say  of  its  members,  "  I  have  heard  their  his 
tory,"  when  the  story  of  ONE  has  been  told. 

The  history  of  the  church  will  be  made  up  of  in 
dividual  histories ;  and  each  one  shall  possess  its 
own  peculiar  interest. 

Your  history  will  be  none  the  less  interesting 
when  mine  has  been  told,  nor  mine  when  you  have 
related  yours.  Your  head  and  heart  will  not  be  as 
mine,  nor  mine  as  yours  ;  we  shall  not  be  mere  frag 
ments  of  a  universal  church  ;  but  we  shall  be  fully, 
roundly,  and  conspicuously  ourselves,  in  the  church 
of  which  we  make  a  whole,  and  perfect,  and  un 
exampled  individual. 


regret  that  all  Christ's  words  were  not  saved, 
even  though  they  multiplied  books  as  John  sup 
poses  they  would.  Yet  we  already  have  more  than 

4* 


82  LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

* 

we  heed ;  and  necessity  demands  no  more,  though 
curiosity  does.  "When  I  remember  how  closoly  that 
rough,  knotty,  gnarled  old  Johnson  was  followed, 
and  every  word  from  his  lips  treasured  up  ;  when  I 
think  how  the  words  of  that  incarnation  of  refined 
selfishness,  Goethe,  were  saved,  I  cannot  but  say  in 
my  heart :  "Why  was  there  no  such  record  kept  of 
the  sayings  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus  ? 


WHAT  labor  seems  too  hard  when  it  is  done  for 
love  ?  I  don't  think  it  would  be  very  easy  to  induce 
me  to  become  a  basket-maker ;  ~but  were  it  by  that 
trade  alone  that  I  could  hope  to  gain  some  maiden 
whom  I  loved,  I  would  like  to  see  the  man  who 
would  sing  more  than  I  would  over  his  weaving. 
Now  to  you  whose  lot  in  life  is  cast  in  some  uncon 
genial  field,  whose  labor  is  with  distaste  and  heavi 
ness  of  heart,  Christ  says  :  "  Do  it  as  if  for  me.  I'll 
be  your  lover.  Work  where  vou  are  for  me,  and 
my  love  shall  reward  yon." 

THE  heart  of  woman  yearns  for  love  more  than  for 
any  other  thing,  and  when  she  asks  it  of  God,  he 
replies :  "  Certainly,  my  child,  if  you  can  bear  all 
that  goes  with  love."  But  if  God  loves  her,  and 
sees  that  she  is  asking  what  will  do  her  harm,  he 
will  not  grant  her  prayer. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  83 

The  man  that  prays  for  wealth  may  have  it,  if  he 
is  able  to  bear  the  discipline  necessary  to  prevent 
it  from  proving  his  ruin. 

One  who  is  bound  for  destruction  may  escape  the 
stripes  that  will  fall  upon  the  Christian's  back  who 
attempts  to  set  his  heart  on  mortal  lover,  or  on  un 
certain  riches. 

They  who  make  gods  of  goods,  and  go  bowed 
down  under  the  gold  they  carry,  are  worse  off  than 
they  are  who  journey  wearily  over  the  hot  sands  of 
the  desert.  For  the  pilgrims  have  camels  to  bear 
their  burdens,  while  they  who  trust  in  riches  are 
their  own  beasts  of  burden.  They  crouch  down 
and  cry,  "  More,  pile  on  more,"  and  more  is  often 
given  them ;  for  if  a  man  will  have  his  portion  on 
earth  it  is  sometimes  given  him,  and  so  he  goes  toil 
ing  beneath  his  load,  with  gold  on  his  back,  and 
hell  in  his  heart,  down  to  destruction. 


IT  has  ever  been  a  mystery  to  the  so-called  Lib 
erals,  that  the  Calvinists,  with  what  they  have  con 
sidered  their  harshly  despotic  and  rigid  views  and 
doctrines,  should  always  have  been  the  staunchest 
and  bravest  defenders  of  freedom.  The  working 
for  Liberty  of  these  severe  principles  in  the  minds 
of  those  that  adopted  them  has  been  a  puzzle.  But 
the  truth  lies  here — Calvinism  has  done  what  no 


84  LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

other  religion  has  ever  been  able  to  do.  It  presents 
the  highest  human  ideal  to  the  world,  and  sweeps 
the  whole  road  to  destruction  with  the  most  appall 
ing  battery  that  can  be  imagined.  It  intensifies, 
beyond  all  example,  the  individuality  of  man,  and 
shows  in  a  clear  and  overpowering  light  his  respon 
sibility  to  God,  and  his  relations  to  eternity.  It 
points  out  man  as  entering  life  under  the  weight  of 
a  tremendous  responsibility  ;  having,  on  his  march 
towards  the  grave,  this  one  sole  chance  of  securing 
heaven  and  of  escaping  hell. 

Thus  the  Calvinist  sees  him  pressed,  burdened, 
urged  on,  by  the  most  mighty  influencing  forces. 
He  is  on  the  march  for  eternity ;  and  is  soon  to 
stand  crowned  in  heaven,  or  to  lie  sweltering  in 
hell,  thus  to  continue  forever  and  ever. 

Who  shall  dare  to  fetter  such  a  being  ?  Get  out 
of  his  way !  Hinder  him  not !  or  do  it  at  the  peril 
of  your  own  soul.  Leave  him  free  to  find  his  way 
to  God.  Meddle  not  with  him  or  with  his  rights. 
Let  him  work  out  his  salvation  as  he  can.  No 
hand  must  be  laid  crushingly  upon  a  creature  who 
is  on  such  a  race  as  this.  A  race  whose  end  is  to  be 
eternal  glory,  or  unutterable  woe  forever  and 
forever. 

They  tell  us  that  Calvinism  plies  men  with  ham 
mer  and  with  chisel.  It  does  j  and  the  result  is 
the  monumental  marble. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  85 

Other  systems  leave  men  soft  and  dirty.     Calvin 
ism  makes  them  of  white  marble  to  endure  forever. 


You  all  hate  tyrants ;  but  not  half  so  much  as 
God  hates  a  slave.  Not  that  he  does  not  pity  the 
poor  slave ;  but  when  he  looks  on  him  he  says, 
"  This  is  not  my  work.  I  never  made  this.  This 
is  not  what  I  intended  when  I  made  a  man.  I 
made  him  in  my  image,  to  stand  royally  before  me, 
to  be  united  to  me  by  loyal  love,  not  to  become  a 
creature  like  this." 


WHEN  a  man  says  to  me,  "  When  I  saw  that  mo 
ther  weeping,  and  her  house  burning,  and  when  I 
rushed  into  the  flames,  and  at  the  peril  of  my  own 
life  saved  and  restored  to  her  her  child,  am  I  to  be 
told  that  that  was  not  a  good  action — that  it  was  a 
sin  in  the  sight  of  God  ?" 

Not  by  me,  friend,  not  by  me.  That  was  a  good 
action.  It  was  a  hint  of  what  there  is  planted  in 
your  nature  by  God ;  and  it  shows  your  guilt  in  not 
coming  to  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  that  all  such 
things  within  you  may  be  warmed  into  a  continual 
life. 

A  man  who  is  capable  of  such  generous  acts 
ought  to  be  ashamed  not  to  be  what  the  love  of  God 
would  make  him.  And  if  he  will  not  love  God, 


86  LIVING   WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

and  be  made  ioto  his  image,  he  needs  no  other  con 
demnation.  It  is  not  by  the  fits  and  starts  of  your 
conduct  that  you  are  to  be  judged,  but  by  its  whole 
course.  And  if  the  centre  and  ruling  principle  of 
your  life  be  not  love  to  God,  you  are  radically  and 
fatally  wrong. 

"When  we  tell  you  that  you  are  without  God,  you 
run  and  gather  up  all  your  occasional  emotions  of 
gratitude  towards  him,  and  of  admiration  for  him, 
and  heaping  them  together  before  us,  say,  "What! 
/  without  God  1" 

Now,  you  may  feel  admiration,  even  very  warm 
admiration,  for  God — every  refined  and  thoughtful 
mind  must ;  and  perhaps,  when  you  are  on  the 
summit  of  your  joys,  just  as  you  cross  the  highest 
line,  you  look  off,  and  say,  "  Thank  God !  thank 
God !"  it  may  be  very  heartily  ;  but  does  your  gra 
titude  and  love  for  him  go  down  beneath  thought 
and  feeling,  and  take  hold  upon  the  secret  springs 
of  your  soul?  Is  your  life  directed,  ruled,  and 
formed  by  that  love?  Can  you  look  upward 
and  say,  with  glowing  breast,  "  Father,  Abba, 
Father!" 

If  not,  your  love  is  but  the  starlight,  and  the 
moonlight,  when  it  should  be  the  light  of  the  fervid 
sun. 

Why,  when  the  sun  shines  with  long,  slant  ray, 
on  Greenland,  what  lives  or  thrives  beneath  its 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  87 

power?  But  when  he  pours  down  straight  from 
his  meridian,  there  springs  up  life  and  luxuriant 
growth. 

Such  love  as  you  speak  of  is  the  slant  beam  of  the 
winter  sun,  or  like  the  shining  of  moonbeams  on 
Nova  Zembla. 

You  cannot  go  to  heaven  with  that  love.  You 
must  be  born  again.  Your  course  must  be  changed. 

Why,  suppose  a  shipmaster  starts  from  New 
York  harbor  for  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  He  goes 
beautifully  out  of  the  harbor,  and  steers  straight 
for  Greenland.  Off  Newfoundland  he  is  hailed  by 
another  sail.  His  destination  is  inquired  and 
given. 

"  Bound  for  Malta !"  shouts  the  stranger.  "  You  ? 
Why,  you're  steering  for  the  North  Pole." 

"  Don't  tell  me  that"  returns  our  captain,  very 
much  offended — "  Don't  tell  me  that.  My  ship  is 
good  and  well  stored ;  my  men  are  good,  and  they 
find  me  the  most  generous  of  captains.  They  have 
long  sleeping  hours  and  short  watches  ;  they  have 
abundance  of  all  that  is  good  for  food.  In  my 
cabin  are  plenty  of  books  and  flowers,  and  we  have 
fine  times  down  there.  "We  enjoy  ourselves  very 
much  indeed — don't  tell  me  that  all  this  time  we 
are  on  our  way  to  any  place  but  Malta ;  I  don't  be 
lieve  it." 

The  stranger  passes  on,  saying  derisively  :    "  I 


88  LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

don't  care  how  good  you  are  to  your  men,  or  how 
many  good  books  or  beautiful  flowers  you  have  got 
below ;  all  this  is  very  fine,  no  doubt ;  but  I  say  that 
the  man  that's  going  to  Malta,  and  heading  direct  for 
the  North  Pole,  is  a  fool"  And  so  he  is ;  all  his  flow 
ers  won't  save  him.  His  course  must  be  changed ; 
and  it's  just  so  about  the  sinner.  He's  heading  for 
hell ;  and  all  the  flowers  and  all  the  good  things 
that  are  in  him  won't  save  him,  if  he  don't  turn 
short  about.  He  is  living  for  self  when  he  should 
be  living  for  God.  Self  is  his  idol,  when  he  should 
worship  God.  He  is  all  wrong,  wrong,  and  will 
certainly  be  lost  if  he  doesn't  come  to  Jesus  for 
help,  safety,  and  grace  to  fit  him  for  heaven. 

"  But,"  do  you  say :  "  must  a  man  be  converted 
when  he  is  already  good  enough  ?" 

Certainly  not.  If  he  is  as  good  as  conversion 
can  make  him,  he  may  go  to  heaven  on  that 
ground;  there  is  no  jealousy  in  the  matter.  If 
you  can  deserve  heaven,  God  is  perfectly  willing 
that  you  should  do  so. 

If  any  of  you  can  go  to  him  and  say  truly, 
"  Lord,  I've  always  loved  thee  with  all  my  heart, 
and  strength,  and  mind,  and  my  neighbor  as  my 
self — need  I  be  converted?  Can't  I  go  to  heaven 
as  I  am  ?"  God  will  answer : 

"  Yes,  certainly,  you  are  like  the  angels,  and  need 
no  conversion  or  redemption." 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  89 

Now  I  would  like  to  see  all  in  this  congregation 
who  feel  as  though  they  could  honestly  say  this  to 
God,  rise  up  where  they  are.  I  would  like  to  count 
them.  What !  not  one  ?  Is  there  not  one  in  this 
great  congregation  who  dare  make  such  a  plea  1 
Then  you  have  no  plea  that  will  stand  you  for  a 
moment. 

Suppose  that  some  provision  for  all  your  past 
sins  could  be  made,  and  you  started  to-morrow 
morning  to  begin  life  anew.  You  say  to  pride : 
"  Now,  pride,  you're  not  going  to  be  master  any 
more.  I'm  going  to  be  master  now  ;  I'll  hold  you 
in ;  I'll  tread,  on  you."  And  you  go  forth  and  re 
turn  at  night  lamenting  thus :  "  Pride  has  over 
come  me,  and  ran  away  with  me ;  it  has  dashed  me 
almost  to  atoms ;  I  cannot  stand  at  all  against  its 
diabolical  power." 

Then  you  say  to  your  other  passions,  "  Lie  down, 
I  will  be  master ;"  and  they  rise  up  and  roar  at 
you ;  they  wrestle  with  and  cast  you  down ;  they 
rend  and  worry  you,  leaving  you  nigh  to  death. 
Then  you  begin  to  see  what  you  are  and  where 
you  are,  and  you  bemoan  yourself  thus  :  "  I  never 
was  half  so  bad  as  this  till  I  tried  to  grow  better. 
I  had  not  a  thought  of  the  strength  of  the  evil 
nature  in  me ;  I  cannot  reform.  Oh !  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body 
of  this  death."  Now  you  are  in  the  right  place  to 


90  LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

hear  that  Jesus  Christ  will  deliver  you.  His 
power  can  convert  you,  and  will  -do  it  if  you  are  in 
earnest  in  asking.  And  then  he  will  take  care  of 
your  sins  ;  all  you  will  have  to  do  will  be  to  forget 
them.  Go  heartily  to  work  for  him  ;  work  for  him 
in  your  own  heart,  for  you  will  always  find  plenty 
to  do  there ;  and  work  for  him  in  the  world,  in 
your  business,  your  studies,  your  pleasure,  your 
whole  life,  work  for  him.  Your  most  radical  and 
central  ideas  must  be  Godward  before  you  will  be 
headed  right  and  sailing  heavenward.  Beware! 
if  a  slow-match  be  placed  by  the  magazine,  you 
may  heap  the  building  with  gardens  full  of  flowers, 
but  they  will  not  save  you  from  being  blown  sky- 
high  when  the  fire  reaches  the  powder. 

Oh!  men!  men!  men!  struck  through  with  the 
rottenness  of  sin,  come  out  of  the  darkness,  escape 
for  your  lives.  Ye  young,  come  to  the  light,  come 
to  joy,  come  to  immortal  life. 


IF  all  unkind  and  unjust  words  were  arrows,  like 
needles  and  pins ;  and  if,  instead  of  piercing  the 
ear  and  then  the  heart,  they  flew  against  the  bodies 
of  those  to  whom  they  were  directed,  the  child 
ren  in  some  men's  families  would  be  like  pin 
cushions  stuck  completely  full  of  sharp  and  painful 
weapons. 


LIVING   WOBDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  91 

THE  command  of  Christ  to  take  up  the  cross  has 
been  signally  and  widely  misunderstood.  The 
Christian  life  presents  so  broad  a  front,  that  all 
views  blend  in  it.  This  is  but  one.  They  err  who 
would  make  it  the  characteristic  of  religion. 

Deny  thyself,  and  take  thy  cross  ;  but  still  be  not 
seeking  for  burdens.  If  the  Lord  says  to  thee,  "  Go 
forward,"  go,  though  the  next  step  be  over  a  preci 
pice  five  hundred  feet  deep,  where  far  below  you 
trees  look  like  grass.  The  air  may  become  solid 
beneath  your  feet ;  but  if  not,  go  forward  where 
duty  calls,  and  the  end  shall  be  peace  and  life  ;  but 
don't  be  ever  feeling  as  if  the  burden  of  the  Lord 
was  heavy,  and  to  be  borne  with  groans,  and  bent 
frame,  and  sighings — or  that  you  must  turn  from, 
life's  pleasures,  merely  because  they  are  pleasures, 
and  it  would  be  denying  yourself  to  forsake  them. 

Christianity  asks  no  such  sacrifices.  She  gives 
fullness  to  the  joys  of  life,  saying  only,  walk  in  the 
love  and  fear  of  God ;  rejoice  freely  in  all  life's 
pure  pleasures,  but  murmur  not  if  God  see  fit  to 
take  them  from  you.  Be  patient  when  the  trial 
comes,  but  be  not  seeking  poverty  of  any  earthly 
delight. 

Not  such  Jesuitical  notions  are  those  of  Christ 
ianity.  Men  are  not  called  upon  to  empty  them 
selves  of  the  loves  of  earth,  and  to  become  ghostly, 
and  ghastly  despisers  of  its  warmth  and  beauty. 


92  LIVING    WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT 

They  are  called  to  bring  all  that  is  natural  within 
them,  given  of  God  in  the  beginning,  and  have  it 
sanctified,  then  love  shall  tell  them  where  to  take 
up  the  cross,  and  where  to  deny  themselves ;  and 
soon  there  will  be  only  strength  in  the  cross,  and 
choice  in  the  self-denial ;  for  as  the  higher  faculties 
grow  and  rise,  the  lower  will  cause  less  and  less 
pain  in  submitting.  They  will  mind  quickly,  at  the 
first  start  of  their  superiors,  and  what  was  sore  self- 
denial  will  be  so  no  longer. 


THE  time  when  Christians  will  be  no  longer  called 
to  poverty  and  hardness,  to  narrowness  and  com 
monness  of  outward  life,  is  coming.  We  are  on  the 
edges  of  it,  and  therefore  I  speak  to  warn  you  to 
consecrate  your  prosperity  and  your  pleasures  to 
the  Lord.  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fullness 
thereof ;  and  all  that  is  rich,  and  tasteful,  and  beau 
tiful,  he  will  give  into  the  hands  of  his  own  child 
ren.  The  devil  has  stolen  the  wealth  and  beauty 
of  this  world ;  but  he  cannot  retain  it.  All  that 
taste  and  riches  can  command  is  yet  to  be  bestowed 
upon  the  church ;  when  she  shall  have  become  so 
pure  that  she  can  stand  blameless,  generous,  honest, 
and  humble,  in  prosperity  and  luxury.  Christians 
have  yet  to  learn — and  they  will  learn  it — the  les 
son  of  humility  and  godliness  in  the  midst  of  riches. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  93 

They  will  learn  how  to  walk  aright  not  in  sack 
cloth,  but  in  velvet ;  how  to  be  not  only  steadfast 
under  affliction,  but  under  blessing.  They  will  be 
able  to  endure  not  only  hardness,  but  what  is  far 
more  dangerous,  softness — and  will  be  able  to  bear 
not  only  defeat  and  baffling,  but  victory. 


I  WISH  that  I  could  see  a  right  sort  of  prayer- 
meeting.  "We  have  better  prayer-meetings  here 
than  they  do  in  many  places  ;  but  I  have  heard  in 
this  lecture-room  prayers  that  I  don't  think  went 
higher  than  the  ceiling,  and  talks  that  had  no  life 
in  them,  said  simply  because  you  had  come  to  say 
something,  and  thought  that  was  about  the  right 
thing  to  say. 

Now  if  I  could  hear  a  man  standing  up  in  his 
place,  say, 

"  I'm  cross  at  home.  I  trouble  my  wife.  I  am 
harsh  and  ungentle  to  my  children.  I  don't  repre 
sent  to  them  at  all  the  character  of  God.  Indeed, 
I'm  afraid  if  God  were  presented  to  them  as  their 
father,  that  they  would  be  more  inclined  to  run 
away  from  him  than  if  they  viewed  him  solely  as 
a  judge.  My  brethren,  I  don't  want  to  be  such  a 
wicked  Christian.  I  am  sorry  and  sad  because  I 
am  such.  Can  you  tell  me  how  to  improve  ?" 

Or  :  "  Brethren,  I'm  stingy — dreadful  stingy  and 


94:          LIVING  WOKDS   FROM  PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

harsh.  I  do  give  sometimes ;  but  it  comes  very 
hard.  I  want  to  get  as  much  work  out  of  every 
body  as  I  can  for  the  least  pay.  I  try  to  be  prudent 
by  getting  good  bargains  out  of  other  people. 
"When  I  can  buy  a  good  garment  at  half  price,  or 
when  I  can  get  a  day's  work  out  of  a  poor  person 
for  half  a  day's  wages,  I  generally  do  it.  Can  any 
of  you  show  me  how  to  get  a  generous  heart  ?" 

Or  :  "  I'm  growing  rich,  and  I  feel  the  swellings 
of  vanity  and  self-importance  already  beginning  in 
my  heart.  Can  you  tell  me  how  to  keep  humble, 
and  to  glorify  God  in  what  I  keep  for  myself,  as 
well  as  in  what  I  give  away  ?" 

Then  I  should  say  we  are  having  a  genuine  work 
of  grace  in  our  meeting.  My  people,  we  must 
make  our  religion  fit  our  times,  our  dispositions, 
and  our  wants,  and  not  try  to  torture  ourselves  into 
the  shapes  of  ancient  times.  The  first  Christians 
were  forced  to  apply  religion  chiefly  to  supporting 
themselves  under  losses,  privations,  and  persecu 
tions  ;  but  we  need  to  apply  it  more  in  other  direc 
tions.  Our  tempers,  our  households,  our  business, 
our  political  duties,  our  pecuniary  circumstances, 
must  all  be  guided  by  religion,  or  we  are  faithless 
in  our  generation. 

I  DON'T  know  which  is  most  lovely  and  admir 
able,  a  poor  and  devoted  saint  at  the  very  gate  of 


LIVING  WOKDS   FKOM  PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  95 

starvation,  who  is  full  of  love  and  grace,  and  who 
is  ever  doing  good,  or  a  rich  and  lifted  up  saint, 
who,  with  not  a  want  that  need  go  ungratified,  who 
is  yet  as  pure  and  humble,  as  self-denying  and 
generous  as  though  he  had  never  known  wealth. 
But  the  latter  needs  most  grace  to  keep  him. 

THE  world  is  God's  journal  wherein  he  writes 
his  thoughts,  and  traces  his  tastes.  The  world 
overflows  with  beauty.  Beauty  should  no  more  be 
called  trivial,  since  it  is  the  thought  of  God. 
Through  beauty  things  become  useful.  It  is  a 
religious  duty* for  a  man,  so  far  as  honestly  he 
can,  to  surround  his  children  with  creations  of  taste 
and  beauty,  that  their  finer  instincts  may  be  cul 
tured  and  gratified.  The  love  of  beauty  is  the  gift 
of  God,  and  it  is  born  in  the  heart  of  every  child. 


MANY  good  people  think  it  wrong  to  indulge  in  a 
taste  for  the  fine  arts.  They  are  even  much  exer 
cised  by  conscience  for  wearing  expensive  clothing. 
They  lay  off  broadcloth  and  silks,  and^dress  in  lin 
sey-woolsey  ;  but  they  may  then  still  retrench  and 
retrench,  that  they  may  have  more  for  the  poor ; 
for  this  principle,  carried  out,  would  lead  back  to 
barbarism.  It  is  not  the  right  one.  Every  man 
should  do  his  part  for  the  poor,  and  his  heart  should 


96  LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

enlarge  as  his  means  increase  /  but  he  who  can  earn 
them  has  a  right  to  refinements  for  himself  and  for 
his  children. 

Men  have  got  to  learn  how  to  unite  the  elegances 
of  high  polish  and  luxury  with  self-denying  humil 
ity  and  generosity ;  they  have  .got  to  learn  how  to 
revel  amid  the  delights  of  music,  poetry  and  paint 
ing,  and  not  be  hurt  by  any  or  all  of  these  before 
the  millennium  will  be  fully  established ;  for  God's 
children  are  to  walk  amid  all  the  good  and  beauti 
ful  things  of  the  earth,  and  be  holy  there.     !N"o 
man  has  any  business  to  be  unrefined,  or  neglectful 
of  the  cultivation  of  taste.     By  the  love  of  nature  ; 
by  music  and  poetry,  and  painting  ;    by  flowers, 
and  by  the  neatness  and   elegance  of  household 
appliances,  grossness  will  be  destroyed.     It  is  a 
mark  of  a  sinking  nature  to  be  indifferent  to  every 
thing  but  food,  clothing  and  shelter.     Beauty  in 
the  house,  beauty  on  the  person,  beauty  all  around, 
should  be  a  man's  aim ;  and  every  home  should 
resound   with  melody,   and    be    bright  with  the 
results  of  genius  and  taste — thus  will  be  the  homes 
of  the  latter  day. 

It  is  more  worthy  of  a  Christian  man  to  take 
gladly  and  gratefully  all  these  delights,  and  to 
learn  to  carry  himself  aright  in  the  use  of  them, 
than  it  is  to  refuse  them  all,  and  go  stinted  and 
starved  of  beauty,  through  the  world. 


LIVING    WORDS   FBOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.  97 

Accustom  your  children  to  the  elegancies,  refine 
ments  and  beauties  of  life,  while  at  the  same  time 
you  train  them  robustly  in  the  exercise  of  all 
that  is  good  within  them.  Thus  they  shall  grow 
up  around  you  elegant,  refined,  beautiful ;  and  as 
agreeably r,  as  they  are  thoroughly,  good ;  which  will 
be  a  very  great  advantage  that  they  will  have  over 
some  of  the  good  people  of  the  present  day,  who 
are  the  most  disagreeable  people  on  earth. 

Clothes  and  manners  don't  make  the  man ;  but 
when  he  is  made,  they  improve  his  appearance. 


THE  sweetest  and  most  generous  natures  are  the 
ones  in  greatest  danger  of  becoming  soured  through 


the  ingratitude  of  the  world. 


THE  family  is  the  first,  and  by  far  the  most  im 
portant,  institution  in  the  world.  It  is  the  true 
church  ;  the  best  expounder  of  the  truths  of  Christ 
ianity.  It  is  from  the  family  that  the  only  real 
idea  of  the  relationship  between  God  and  man  can 
be  obtained  ;  for  God  is  more  a  father  than  he  is  a 
king,  or  a  judge  ;  and  thus  men  should  b'e  taught  to 
regard  him.  Paternity  is  the  strangest  of  life's 
mysteries,  and  the  most  solemn  men  come  here  to 
watch  that  the  priest  teach  his  church  right  things. 
Look  at  home,  father  priest,  mother  priest,  your 

5 


98  LIVING    WOKDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

church  is  a  hundredfold  heavier  responsibility  than 
mine  can  be.  Your  priesthood  is  from  God's  own 
hands,  and  it  is  a  solemn  thing  to  have  God  lay  his 
hands  upon  you  in  paternity — to  give  you  a  church 
from  your  own  loins.  You  should  all  condemn 
the  man  who  should  rush  with  haste  and  levity  into 
the  ministry ;  but  not  half  so  worthy  of  condemna 
tion  would  he  be,  as  they  are  who  enter  thought 
lessly,  led  but  by  fancy  and  youthful  inclination, 
into  the  marriage  state,  and  are  constituted  priests 
of  the  family.  They  are  the  formers  of  immortal 
characters  as  no  other  priests  can  ever  be.  Let 
them  look  well  to  how  they  form  them. 

Children  are  not  given  primarily  for  your  love, 
or  for  your  amusement,  though  incidentally  they 
are  for  these  ;  nor  are  they  given  for  a  staff  for  your 
old  age,  though  they  shall  be  this  also,  if  you  are 
the  wise  support  of  their  youth  ;  but  they  are  given 
for  your  education,  and  to  become,  like  you,  inde 
pendent  beings. 

You  are  not  to  consider  them  as  burdens,  or  to 
repine  that  you  are  wearing  out  your  life  for  them, 
but  you  are  to  guide  them  carefully  ;  to  instruct 
them  fully  in  the  path  by  which  they  are  to  jour 
ney  when  they  may  no  longer  cling  to  your  hand. 
Teach  them  so  that  when  you  leave  them  to  go  on 
alone,  they  may  know  how  to  steer  for  the  safe 
haven.  If  you  do  your  duty  faithfully,  you  will 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  99 

reap  your  reward  as  you  go  along;  if  you  fail, 
"bitter  will  be  your  punishment ;  for  no  keener  suf 
fering  can  be  known  on  earth,  than  that  which 
the  heart  of  a  parent  bleeds  under  when  the 
hand  that  administers  it  is  the  hand  of  his  own 
child. 

A  man  who  has  never  had  the  care  nor  felt  the 
love  of  little  children,  who  has  not  been  taught  self- 
denial  by  his  desire  for  their  good,  is,  so  far  forth, 
not  a  perfect  man. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  discipline  must  of  necessity 
come  through  children  of  his  own  blood ;  but  he 
must  be  taught  of  childhood,  or  he  is  forever 
unfinished. 


FOR  a  poisoned  heart  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  so  poisonous  as  men.  It  is  not  well  to  see  too 
much  of  men. 


I  CAN  conceive  of  a  state  of  public  sentiment 
and  morals,  in  which  there  might  properly  be 
free  utterance  of  truths,  which  in  the  present 
state  of  society  a  minister  has  not  a  right  to 
express. 

The  people  could  not  understand  or  bear  them 
now,  and  to  speak  them  out  would  be  to  touch 
morality,  and  to  cause  great  evil.  This,  in  the  days 


100         LIVING    WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  was  the  case  in  regard  to 
many  truths  which  it  is  now  the  leading  duty  of  his 
ministers  to  proclaim  boldly.  As  the  ages  pass,  the 
circumstances  of  men  change,  and  truth  must  be 
brought  to  bear  on  men  as  they  can  bear  it.  Pre 
mature  developments  work  mischief.  This  prin 
ciple  both  Christ  and  his  disciples  fully  recognized, 
and  many  yet  are  the  secret  truths  of  God.  The 
future  will  unfold  them  as  they  are  needed. 


WHEN  sick  of  humanity,  away  to  the  desert,  the 
forest,  or  the  ocean  shore  ;  there  is  balm  in  nature 
for  the  wounded  and  weary  heart ;  healing  is  in 
all  her  low  uttered  voices. 


MEN  who  were  to  treat  their  social  affections  as 
we  treat  our  religious  ones,  would  be  regarded  as 
fools — and  with  reason.  While  we  are  busied  with 
the  pressing  affairs  of  life,  we  cannot  feel  the  glow 
of  religious  affection — nor  is  it  expected.  If,  when 
the  pauses  of  business  come  (not  when  we  pause 
from  exhaustion,  but  in  the  leisure  hours) — our  soul 
gladly  returns  unto  its  love ;  or  if,  when  in  the 
hurry  of  work  and  trade,  a  question  of  principle 
comes  up,  our  thoughts  glance  quickly  Godward, 
and  we  decide  as  in  his  presence,  we  need  not  fear 


LIVING    WOKD3    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        101 

that  we  are  in  a  cold,  back-slidden  state,  though  we 
be,  indeed,  very  diligent  in  business.  To  have  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  always  before  one,  it  is  not  neces 
sary  that  one  should  be  always  directly  thinking  of 

• 

him,  or  of  spiritual  things.  This  is  impossible  in 
those  pauses  of  daily  life,  where  it  is  our  duty 
to  concentrate  thought  upon  secular  concerns. 
"  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon,"  has  been 
perverted  to  mean  that  it  was  unchristian  for  a  man 
ever  to  give  his  whole  attention  to  money  mak 
ing- 

Now  the  whole  attention  of  a  man  must  be  given 
to  study,  during  study  hours,  or  he  will  never  make 
a  scholar ;  and  it  must  be  equally  given  to  business, 
during  business  hours,  or  he  will  never  succeed  in 
the  proper  support  of  his  family,  or  the  Gospel. 
When  the  work  and  the  strain  is  over,  then  the 
soul  of  the  Christian  will  consciously  rejoice  in  the 
Lord. 

"What  if  I,  on  awaking,  were  to  say :  "  Now,  I 
will  love  my  family  with  all  my  heart — nothing 
shall,  this  day,  interfere  with  my  love  for  them," 
and  were  then  to  go  into  a  furious  fervor  about  it, 
embracing  and  kissing  them,  and  declaring  my 
affection  for  them.  I  might  try  to  work,  with  my 
mind  so  hotly  fixed  on  them,  but  I  could  not  do  it. 
I  should  soon  say :  "  I  can't  hunt  up  these  texts — I 
can't  write  these  sermons — they  require  my  whole 


102         LIVING   WOKDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

attention,  and  that  is  not  justice  to  my  wife  and 
children — they  turn  away  my  thoughts  and  affec 
tions  from  my  family — I  will  no  longer  try  to  work 
at  them."  I  then  impatiently  toss  books  and 
papers  aside,  and  devoting  myself  to  the  decla 
rative  form  of  love  for  my  family,  forget  all  else. 
How  much  good  should  I  do  them  under  such  cir 
cumstances  ?  The  true  way  to  prove  my  love  for 
them  is,  to  devote  myself  steadily  to  some  way  of 
supporting  them.  Then,  at  the  season  of  relaxa 
tion  from  work,  I  shall  be  suje  to  enjoy  them  and 
their  love. 

Just  so  in  spiritual  matters  ;  for  the  family  is  the 
best  teacher  of  theology.  The  men  who  walk  in 
lonely  places,  thinking  only  of  God  and  the  angels, 
are  not  the  most  reliable  Christians — are  not  the 
bone  and  sinew  of  the  church.  This  has  been 
proved  throughout  the  ages. 

Any  such  thought  of  the  things  unseen  and 
eternal,  as  shall  unfit  a  man  for  his  daily  secular 
duties,  or  teach  him  to  despise  them,  is  wrong 
thought,  and  should  be  discarded.  Eeligion  un 
derlies  all  things.  It  is  intended  to  fit  a  man  for 
life — to  teach  him  how  to  carry  himself  in  his  busi 
ness,  his  pleasures,  and  his  pains,  as  much  as  to  aid 
him  when  he  dies.  It  was  not  meant  to  lift  him 
out  of,  or  beyond,  the  common  work  or  wants  of 
life,  until  life  is  passed. 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         103 

THE  frozen  ship  which,  last  week,  came  strug 
gling  towards  New  York  harbor,  is  a  figure  of 
man's  soul  before  grace  enters  it. 

Look  at  her  condition !  Her  ropes  and  rigging 
incased  in  shining  ice ;  her  men  mailed  in  ice — ice 
in  their  hair,  ice  on  their  beards,  their  feet  and 
legs  clad  in  the  frozen  mail,  the  gauntlets  on 
their  hands  heavy  and  stiff  with  the  same  cold 
armor,  and  their  hearts  freezing  in  them  from  long 
struggling  and  despair.  The  pumps  must  be 
worked  incessantly,  to  keep  the  ice-loaded  ship 
afloat ;  but  the  strokes  fall  slower  and  slower,  for 
the  life  is  congealing  in  the  arms  of  the  hopeless 
mariners. 

Hark!  a  hail.  See!  a  pilot-boat  is  near.  An 
other  moment,  and  the  pilot  is  on  board. 

"Give  me  the  helm,"  he  says  to  the  worn-out 
man  at  the  wheel.  "I  know  just  where  you 
are,  and  will  get  you  safe  into  port  in  a  few 
hours." 

The  men  find  themselves  suddenly  endowed  with 
new  powers  of  motion.  They  rush  about  the 
decks,  obeying  the  pilot's  orders.  They  pull  at  the 
ropes ;  they  rattle  the  icy  shrouds,  they  make  the 
crust  fly  from  the  tackling.  Up  the  slippery  rat 
lines  they  climb  ;  they  dash  from  the  frozen  rigging 
masses  which  before  they  could  not  move.  The 
cordage  creaks  and  groans,  and  its  shivered  mail 


104        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

rattles  down  upon  the  decks ;  sails  are  reefed  and 
unreefed,  they  hoist  this  sheet,  and  take  in  that, 
all  with  the  same  stiff  and  frozen  hands  and  limbs 
which,  an  hour  before,  were  yielding  to  the  torpor 
of  death. 

Cheerfulness  is  on  all  faces,  hope  in  every  heart. 
They  have  got  a  pilot.  He  will  guide  them  into 
port.  Their  lives  are  saved. 

The  soul  is  that  ice-bound  vessel ;  its  unrenewed 
powers  are  those  ice-clad,  helpless  men.  Grace  is 
the  pilot,  whose  coming  renews  the  life  and  hope 
of  all. 

And  grace  alone  can  encourage  one  who  has 
once  seen  himself  to  be  in  the  wretched  condition 
which  has  been  described.  Grace  can  strengthen 
and  cheer;  it  can  guide  the  soul  into  the  safe 
haven.  Without  it  there  is  no  true  life — only  frost 
and  ice,  and  hopeless  and  heavy  gloom,  ending  in 
eternal  death. 


I  WOULD  pave  hell  with  doubts ;  yea,  1  would 
so  fill  and  choke  it  up  with  doubts  that  it  could 
contain  nothing  else,  could  I  by  that  undo  the 
reality  of  it,  and  necessity  for  it. 


HOURS   are  like  sponges — they  wipe  out  good 
resolutions. 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         105 

JSTo  man  ever  becomes  a  Christian  by  beginning 
with  his  outward  life.  Reformation  is  not  religion ; 
though  it  often  precedes,  and  always  accompanies 
it.  He  who  is  constantly  laboring  to  reform  his 
conduct,  and  to  square  his  life  by  the  rules  of 
morality  while  his  heart  is  not  right  with  God,  has 
all  the  burden  and  cross  of  religion,  but  none  of  its 
peace. 

And  he  will  never  gain  much  upon  the  work  he 
is  trying  to  do  ;  for,  if  the  very  faults,  from  which 
he  has  for  a  time  escaped,  do  not  overtake  him, 
others,  perhaps  worse,  will,  as  long  as  the  principle 
within  him  remains  unchanged.  He  may,  with 
strong  hand  and  iron  will,  curb  the  outgoings  of 
pride  and  passion  in  some  old  direction,  but  they 
will  find  new  courses.  There  is  no  curing  effects 
until  causes  are  reached. 


CAMPING  down  upon  the  edges  of  a  sin  from 
which  a  man  has  just  escaped,  is  dangerous  work. 
A  person  in  such  a  position  is  like  one  who,  upon 
finding  himself  in  the  running  current  of  a  river 
which  is  rising,  swollen  by  heavy  rains,  struggles 
desperately  until  he  reaches  its  banks,  and  there 
settles  himself  in  false  security.  In  the  morning, 
the  waters  of  the  freshet  are  booming  about  him, 
ami  he  flies  to  the  meadow,  a  little  higher.  But 

5* 


106         LIVING    WORDS    FEOM    PLYMOUTH    PCLPIT. 

the  floods  are  out,  and  they  rise  and  rise,  faster 
than  he  can  run,  and  the  man  who,  by  fleeing  at 
once  to  the  mountains,  when  he  came  up  from  the 
river,  would  have  been  saved,  by  tarrying  upon 
the  lowlands,  perishes. 


was  there  such  a  contrast  in  a  conversa 
tion  as  that  presented  in  the  conversation  between 
Christ  and  the  woman  of  Samaria.  Christ  speak 
ing  from  the  top  of  all  spiritual  apprehension,  the 
woman  from  the  bottom  of  sensuous  knowledge. 


IN  the  higher  sense,  there  is  no  right  action 
without  right  motive,  and  the  only  right  motive  is, 
Love  to  God. 

You  may  spend  your  whole  life  picking  off  your 
old  dried  leaves  and  dead  branches,  but  if  in  the 
centre  springs  of  your  soul  you  are  not  subdued  to 
God,  your  work,  although  rewarded  in  this  life,  as 
all  morality  is,  will  not  be  accepted  in  heaven. 

I  have  seen  a  gardener  at  work  upon  a  tree 
which  had  a  worm  gnawing  into  it  at  the  point 
where  the  root  and  the  trunk  united.  The  earth 
hid  the  worm,  and  so,  when  the  leaves  withered, 
the  owner  went  and  picked  them  off,  and  washed 
the  tree  with  the  various  things  that  he  had  heard 
recommended  for  diseased  trees. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        107 

When  the  branches  began  to  perish  he  hewed 
them  off,  and  he  worked  and  worked  all  summer  at 
that  tree,  but  it  died.  Now,  had  the  gardener 
called  for  a  spade,  and  removed  the  earth  about 
the  roots,  and  killed  that  worm,  he  might  have 
given  himself  no  farther  trouble  about  the  withered 
leaves,  or  the  dying  branches.  There  would  have 
been  no  more  of  them. 


THE  reason  why  inquirers  cannot  find  the  peace 
for  which  they  seek,  is  because  there  is  self-will 
hiding  somewhere  out  of  sight;  like  the  main 
spring  of  a  watch,  which  cannot  be  seen,  and 
which  yet  is  the  very  life  of  motion  in  the  watch, 
self-will  is  the  ruling  power  in  every  sinner's  heart. 
It  lurks  in  such  darkness  that  the  man  himself  can 
not  always  see  it.  But  often  he  knows  very  well 
where  it  is  snugged  away ;  and  when  conviction 
comes  upon  him,  when  he  longs  to  be  religious 
and  at  peace,  he  goes  with  a  candle  into  every 
place  where  this  rebel  is  not,  to  hunt  him  out  and 
make  him  surrender  to  God.  Into  all  the  cham 
bers  of  his  soul  he  goes  with  his  candle.  He  sees 
how  sinful  he  is  in  them,  and  he  freely  opens  them 
to  God's  cleansing.  He  never  set  much  store  by 
anything  in  these  rooms ;  but  there  is  a  dark,  close 
closet  in  the  mansion,  from  which  the  sinner  keeps 


108         LIVING-   WORDS    FEOM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

carefully  away.  He  don't  thrust  his  candle  in 
there,  and  say  to  the  thing  that  cowers  within, 
"  There  you  are ;  come  out  and  be  made  captive." 
Oh !  no.  This  is  the  worm  at  the  core ;  and  you 
may  go  on  with  your  hard  working  out  your  salva 
tion  till  you  die ;  and  if  you  do  not  unearth  him, 
you  will  land  in  perdition. 

This  enemy  will  lurk  in  a  closet  only  while  he  is 
hunted  for.  A  culprit  is  hid  in  a  house  ;  the  offi 
cers  come  to  seek  for  him ;  the  master  of  the  man 
sion  shows  them  hither  and  thither,  bids  them 
open  this  door,  and  that ;  go  up  garret,  and  down 
cellar,  and  be  satisfied.  But  when  they  pass  a 
panel  in  which  there  is  a  secret  spring,  he  says 
not  a  word  about  it ;  and  it  remains  untouched. 

The  officers  are  satisfied  that  the  man  they  seek 
is  not  there,  and  they  depart.  When  the  door 
shuts  behind  them,  the  panel  opens,  and  a  face  is 
seen  at  the  window  watching  them  away. 

Now  the  culprit  is  out.  v  He  walks  about  the  par 
lors,  the  halls,  the  chambers,  just  as  he  was  wont, 
until  there  is  a  sound  as  of  returning  footsteps; 
when  he  instantly  vanishes  behind  the  closing  panel. 

Thus  difficult  to  discover  is  the  hiding-place  of 
self-will.  When^  once  that  principle  is  reached 
and  grasped,  the  whole  man  can  be  easily  guided. 
He  is  guided  whithersoever  that  subtile  principle 
wills  that  he  should  go. 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         109 

Look  at  that  stately  ship.  What  a  mighty  hull 
she  has — three  hundred  feet  long ;  her  masts  a  hun 
dred  feet  high.  How  well  set  is  her  rigging,  how 
clearly  defined  her  spars.  "We  may  see  her  dis 
tinctly,  but  not  all.  Away  down  under  the  water, 
hiding  at  the  ship's  stern,  there  is  a  little  plank  that 
is  of  more  importance  than  all  that  so  proudly 
towers  on  the  breast  of  the  billows. 

Neither  hull,  nor  decks,  nor  main-mast,  nor 
mizzen-mast,  nor  bowsprit,  nor  yards,  nor  sails, 
would  be  of  any  use  without  that  plank  down  under 
water.  Suppose  that  some  person,  ignorant  of  this 
fact,  should  attempt  to  guide  that  ship's  course. 
He  would  say,  in  despair,  after  wearing  himself  out 
with  fruitless  efforts :  "  What  does  ail  this  ship  ?  I 
have  pulled  at  her  bows ;  I  have  furled  and  unfurled 
her  sails ;  I  have  tugged  at  every  rope  in  her,  but 
she  will  not  keep  her  course.  I  cannot  manage 
her.  She  will  do  nothing  right.  What  can  it 
mean?" 

Now,  suppose  an  old  salt  should  say,  "  Have  you 
tried  the  wheel  ?" 

"  Wheel  3"  says  the  man,  "  what  wheel  ?  No ; 
I've  tried  no  wheel." 

"  Lay  hold  here,  my  hearty,"  cries  the  sailor. 
The  landsman  grasps  the  wheel,  and  the  little  plank 
below  turns  two  inches,  and  the  ship,  though  she  be 
ten  times  as  large,  and  ten  times  as  heavily  laden, 


110         LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

moves  submissively  round  to  the   strength  of  one 
man's  hand. 

Now  you  may  tug  at  your  topmasts,  or  toil  at 
your  bows,  and  you  will  die  with  your  course  all 
wrong.  You  never  will  head  for  the  safe  harbor 
till  you  take  your  stand  at  the  wheel. 


think  that  God  is  going  to  make  a  Christ 
ian  out  of  you  without  effort  of  your  own.  When 
the  lion  crouches  down  before  you,  and  his  eyes 
glare  upon  you,  and  he  is  about  to  spring,  you  need 
not  expect  Providence  to  fire  your  gun  for  you ; 
you  must  do  it  yourself  or  die.  'Tis  kill  or  be 
killed  with  you  then.  God  has  already  done  his 
part  in  the  work  of  your  salvation.  If  you  don't 
choose  to  do  your  part  you  will  perish. 


THE  moralist  says,  "  It  has  cost  me  severe  labor  to 
be  as  good  as  I  am ;  how  shall  I  ever  be  able  to  do 
greater  things  than  these  ?"  Friend,  there  is  a  rock 
which  on  one  side  is  supported  by  the  solid  earth, 
on  another  side  by  other  rocks,  on  a  third  by  trees, 
but  upon  the  fourth  side  it  has  no  support,  and  it 
requires  there  but  a  few  pounds'  weight  to  tip  it 
downward. 

Now  you  may  go  and  destroy  yourself  in  efforts 


LIVING    WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         Ill 

to  remove  that  rock,  and  only  imbed  it  deeper 
in  the  earth,  or  fasten  it  more  firmly  in  the  trees  or 
among  other  rocks ;  but,  push  it  in  the  right  direc 
tion,  and  it  is  no  longer  there.  I  tell  you  it  would 
not  be  half  so  hard  to  be  a  great  deal  better 
Christian,  than  to  be  the  moralist  you  are.  You 
are  all  the  time  pushing  the  rock  the  wrong  way. 
Do  you  say  :  "  Well,  it  is  the  most  earnest  desire 
of  my  life  to  become  a  Christian.  What  lack  I 
yet  ?  What  is  in  the  way  ?"  I  cannot  tell — I 
might  tell,  in  particular  cases,  but  not  generally. 
But,  'tis  a  question  that  each  one  can  answer  for 
himself,  if  he  is  sincere  in  wishing  to  know. 

God  will  answer  all  prayer  for  help  in  such  cases, 
when  it  is  patiently  and  honestly  continued. 


THE  law  is  a  battery  which  protects  all  that  is 
behind  it,  but  sweeps  with  destruction  all  that  is 
before.  Repenting  toward  the  law  is  repenting 
toward  destruction,  but  repenting  toward  God  is 
repenting  toward  life  and  peace. 

We  count  it  marvellous  that  Christ  bore  our  sins 
a  few  hours  for  us.  Ah!  God  bore  them  long 
before — he  bears  them  yet.  The  agony  upcn  the 
cross  was  but  one  outshining  upon  us  of  his  unut 
terable  pity  and  love.  'Tis  not  at  cold,  bloodless, 
senseless  law,  that  we  strike  by  sin ;  but  straight 


112         LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

home  upon  the  throbbing,  yearning  heart  of  God, 
our  Father. 

The  world  has  an  ugly  way  of  forgiving.  It  can 
forgive ;  but  as  to  forgetting,  that's  quite  another 
thing ;  and  it  must  give  the  offender  its  mind.  It 
sets  him  down  before  the  blowpipe  of  its  indigna 
tion,  and  scorches  him  through  and  through.  Now 
that  is  not  the  way  that  God  forgives — he  runs  to 
meet  a  penitent  while  he  is  yet  a  great  way  off. 
Huns  is  the  figure — not  waits,  not  walks— runs  / 
and  he  don't  tell  the  trembling  sinner  what  he 
thinks  of  him;  he  don't  excoriate,  bruise,  and 
taunt,  as  the  world  does,  till  the  penitent  wishes  a 
hundred  times  that  he  never  had  repented  ;  but — as 
he  himself  declares — he  forgives  with  no  upbraiding ; 
and  the  transgressions  of  the  sinner  shall  not  be 
even  mentioned  to  him,  or  remembered  against  him, 
any  more. 

THERE  are  sitting  before  me,  in  this  congregation, 
now  two  hundred  men  who  stuff  their  Sundays  full 
of  what  they  call  religion,  and  then  go  out  on  Mon 
days  to  catch  their  brothers  by  the  throat,  saying  : 
"  Pay  me  that  thou  owest ;  it's  Monday  now,  and 
you  needn't  think  that  because  we  sat  crying  toge 
ther  yesterday  over  our  Saviour's  sufferings  and 
love,  that  I'm  going  to  let  you  off  from  that  debt, 
if  it  does  ruin  you  to  pay  it  now." 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         113 

FEAR,  in  its  normal  action,  leads  towards  hope. 
In  its  place  it  is  good ;  but  when  you  find  that  it 
leads  to  despondency,  be  sure  that  'tis  out  of  its 
place,  and  acting  morbidly.  Water  is  good  to  float 
timber,  but  a  water-logged  tree  will  certainly  sink. 
Don't  allow  yourself  to  be  water-logged  by  fear  or 
anxiety. 

BAD  men  may  keep  up  long,  but  when  once  they 
fall  they  cannot  rise  again.  They  are  like  apples  I 
have  seen  hanging  from  a  tree,  round  and  fair  as 
they  could  be,  but  also  inside  as  rotten  as  they 
could  be.  As  long  as  they  could  swing  upon 
their  stem  they  did  well  enough,  but  when  they  had 
fallen  and  smashed  upon  the  ground,  I  never  heard 
of  their  being  made  good  apples  of  afterwards. 


A  MAN  who  makes  calculation  and  provision  for 
this  life  only,  is  like  a  sea  captain  who,  starting  on 
a  voyage  to  Europe,  lays  in  provisions  sufficient  to 
last  him  only  until  he  gets  safe  past  the  lighthouse, 
and  out  into  the  open  sea. 


THERE  are  some  men's  souls  that  are  so  thin,  so 
almost  destitute  of  what  is  the  true  idea  of  soul,  that 
were  not  the  guardian  angels  so  keen-sighted  they 
would  altogether  overlook  them. 


114:         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

MEN  are  differently  built.  There  are  in  en  who 
are  broad  .and  strong  at  the  base,  in  the  middle,  and 
up  until  you  reach  the  moral  faculties.  These  are 
shrunken  in,  and  almost  vanished. 

Such  men  are  like  lighthouses,  built  well  at  the 
bottom,  and  all  the  way  up.  All  right,  only  they 
have  no  lantern,  and  no  light.  And  the  two  things, 
the  man  and  the  house,  are  equally  valuable. 


EACH  one  is  at  liberty  to  fashion  God  so  that  his 
thought  can  clasp  him ;  else  there  can  be  no  love 
to  God.  Make  him  to  suit  your  want,  and  you 
will  have  gratitude  and  love  to  him. 

Some  people,  when  they  think  of  God,  have  a 
vague  idea  of  greatness — and  when  they  pray,  they 
pray  into  nothing,  hoping  that,  perchance,  some 
good  angel  will  gather  up  their  prayers,  and  bear 
them  into  the  divine  presence. 


ALL  truth  is  equilibrated.  Pushing  any  truth 
out  very  far,  you  are  met  by  a  counter  truth.  A 
man  generally  runs  one  truth  out  till  he  meets  an 
other,  and  then  he  drops  his  first  truth  and  goes 
over  to  its  counter..  By  and  by  he  swings  back  and 
gains  his  true  position,  that  of  a  hub  in  a  wheel, 
with  all  truth  pointing  towards  him,  and  meeting 
where  he  stands. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         115 

The  truth  of  man's  freedom,  carried  to  a  certain 
extent,  is  met  by  his  dependence  upon,  and  action 
according  to,  the  will  of  God.  The  truth  of  a  man's 
individuality  meets,  at  a  certain  point,  the  truth  of 
his  sociality  of  being.  These  things  are  all  true, 
and  to  be  right,  a  man  must  be  on  both  sides. 


THE  idea  of  right  living  seems  to  be,  with  some 
men,  not  doing  anything  wrong,  as  if  righteousness 
consisted  in  negatives.  "  Why,"  says  the  man 
charged  with  being  a  sinner  worthy  of  death, 
"  why,  I  never  hurt  anybody  in  my  life  ;  I  never 
committed  a  sin  in  my  life — that  is,  you  know,  a 
real  sin.  You  don't  mean  that  I  should  be  shut  out 
of  heaven  were  I  now  to  die." 

Perhaps  the  man  puts  great  restraint  upon  him 
self,  and  is  really  at  a  great  deal  of  trouble  not  to 
do  wrong.  He  keeps  himself  shut  in  very  closely, 
even  more  so  than  many  a  real  Christian  does  ;  but 
if  he  be  not  right  at  the  springs  of  life,  he  is  on  the 
way  to  eternal  ruin  just  as  surely  as  is  the  thief 
or  murderer,  though  on  a  different  charge,  and 
though  he  is,  as  far  as  this  world  goes,  a  far  better 
man. 

But  what  ship-owners  would  justify  the  captain 
who  should  say  to  them,  upon  returning  from  some 
foreign  land,  "  Here  is  your  ship  in  the  same  order 


116        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

as  when  I  took  her.  I  have  not  harmed  her,  nor 
used  her  for  unlawful  or  piratical  purposes.  She  is 
empty,  to  le  sure  ;  I  have  done  no  business  for  you  ; 
but  here  is  that  which  is  yours." 

God  has  sent  men  out  upon  the  sea  of  time. 
They  are  freighted  as  no  ship  ever  was.  Do  you 
think  that  he  will  exonerate  them  if  they  dare  to 
go  up  before  him  with  a  plea  like  that  just  urged  ? 
Our  talents  must  be  improved,  that  at  his  coming 
he  may  receive  his  own  with  usury. 

It  is  a  man's  duty  to  bring  the  influence  of  love 
to  God  to  bear  on  every  faculty  of  his  soul,  that  it 
may  be  educated  and  expanded  thereby.  A  man 
should  live  in  every  part  of  himself,  and  not  be  con 
fined  to  one,  two,  or  six  apartments.  The  world 
calls  a  man  made  or  ruined  when  he  has  made  or 
lost — what?  Wife,  children,  character,  honor, 
reason  ?  Oh,  no — not  these  ;  but  money  !  That's 
the  thing  in  which  the  world  makes  "  the  life  "  of 
man  to  consist.  Ships  are  made  in  various  com 
partments,  each  air  and  water-tight,  so  that  when  a 
rock  dashes  through  the  bows  of  the  hull,  the  good 
ship  does  not  sink,  because  there  are  enough  other 
compartments  to  buoy  her  up  till  she  gets  where 
she  can  be  overhauled  for  repairs ;  but  men  who 
have  naturally  the  means  of  outfloating  all  the 
storms,  and  all  the  leakages  of  life,  allow  most  of 
their  compartments  to  become  ruinous  for  want  of 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        117 

use  and  care.  And  then,  -when  into  the  one,  or 
perhaps  two  or  three  compartments  where  they 
do  live,  bursts  the  sunken  reef,  they  are  foundered 
at  once.  The  waters  dash  in  upon  them,  and  they 
are  gone — sunk  like  a  bullet  in  the  sea. 

And  for  this  they  will  be  brought  into- judgment. 
No  man  has  any  right  to  live  in  his  animal  nature, 
or  in  his  affections,  in  his  tastes  and  sentiments,  in 
his  reason  and  intellect,  or  even  in  his  moral  na 
ture,  to  the  undue  depression  of  the  rest  of  himself. 
He  should  open  his  whole  house,  and  let  light 
stream  into  and  gleam  from  the  windows  of  every 
apartment.  Ye  who  live  otherwise  are  dead  while 
you  live.  But  Christ  can  give  you  life.  Come 
unto  him. 


MAKE  it  clear  that  Christ  on  earth,  with  his 
fathomless  love,  his  unutterable  pity,  his  divine 
gentleness,  and  quick  and  tender  notice  of  all 
appeals  from  the  humble  and  poor,  was  different, 
in  kind,  from  what  he  is  in  heaven — prove  that  he 
acted  from  design,  more  than  from  the  impulse  of 
character,  and  that  now  the  tenderness  of  that 
strange  love  and  pity  is  no  more,  and  you  take  away 
my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  ye  have  laid  him. 
You  have  robbed  me  of  my  God.  But  now  I  look 
upon  the  story  of  his  acts  on  earth,  when  he  was,  in 
some  sort,  fettered  by  flesh,  and  the  laws  which  are 


118        LIVING   WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

the  masters  of  flesh,  and  I  say,  "  If  his  pity,  and  his 
patience,  and  his  love,  were  such  as  this  while  here, 
what  must  they  "be  now,  in  their  full  expansion  2" 

Christ  came  to  die  for  our  sins  ;  but  he  came  also 
to  show  us  what  is  the  character  of  God — to  teach 
us,  by  lessons  that  we  can  understand,  what  sort 
of  disposition  he  has  who  made  us  ;  and  now,  in 
stead  of  wishing  to  go  back  1800  years,  in  order  to 
sit  at  his  feet  in  Jerusalem,  let  us  rejoice  that  every 
year  brings  us  nearer  to  the  hour  when  we  shall  go, 
not  to  Jesus  hampered  by  fleshly  laws,  and  shrouded 
as  lights  are  from  the  eyes  of  the  sick — but  to 
our  Saviour  glorified  and  waiting  to  welcome  his 
children  and  his  brothers  to  their  long-sought 
home. 

I  would  have  loved  to  listen  to  my  Saviour  as  he 
taught  upon  the  plains,  or  on  the  mountains,  or  in 
the  cities  of  Judea ;  I  would  have  loved  to  sit  at 
his  feet,  to  watch  his  looks  as  he  uttered  the  blessed 
words  that  are  recorded;  I  would  have  loved  to 
speak  with  him,  face  to  face — to  have  seen  his  smile 
— to  have  touched  his  hands ;  but,  thank  God !  I  can 
do  better  than  that — I  can  have  him,  and  can  hold 
him  in  my  heart  of  hearts,  as  that  sweet  Friend 
and  Comforter,  who  could  not  come  down  to 
earth  till  the  man,  Christ  Jesus,  was  received  up 
into  heaven.  By  love  I  am  conjoined  to  him, 
and  I  feel  his  soul  touch  my  soul.  Thus  I  can 


LIVING   WOKDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         119 

abide  with  him  until  I  see  him,  face  to  face,  in 
heaven. 


IT  seems  a  hard  thing  to  realize,  that  so  great 
and  high  a  being,  and  one  so  holy  as  God  is,  should 
trouble  himself  at  all  about  man — a  worm — one  of 
these  little  angling  worms  that  crawls  out  of  his 
earthy  hole,  and  suns  himself  a  moment,  and  then 
crawls  in  again.  But  if  even  the  hairs  of  our  heads 
are  all  numbered — if  he  takes  notice  of  hair,  than 
which  nothing  seems  more  worthless,  'tis  a  lifeless 
thing  that  we  cut  and  throw  away — a  mere  appen 
dage,  infringe  of  a  man — what  notice  must  God 
take  of  our  living  hearts  ;  our  thoughts,  which  are 
but  the  souls  of  things?  We  can  no  longer  believe 
that  thoughts  and  hearts  are  a  matter  of  small  mo 
ment  to  him  who  made  us.  He  knows  us  each  one 
by  name,  by  disposition,  by  character,  and  he 
loved  us  before  we  were  born.  Now  when  he 
asks  us  to  love  and  trust  in  him,  he  only  asks  what 
we  know  perfectly  well  how  to  do — what,  ever 
since  we  were  born,  we  have  been  doing,  only  not 
towards  him.  Didn't  we  love  our  mother  ?  Was  it 
hard  to  love  her  ?  Don't  we  trust  our  friends  ?  Is 
it  hard  to  trust  them  ? 

But  where  is  there  mother,  or  father,  or  friend, 
like  God  ?    And  do  you  say,  "  It  is  hard  to  love 


,. 


120        LIVING    WOKDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

and  trust  in  him  ?"  Or  do  you  say :  u  1  believe 
in  fore-ordination,  and  am  waiting  '  God's  time.' " 

Fore-ordination !  that  is  a  shameful  sham.  God's 
time  is  "  now,"  he  never  has  any  other  time.  Fore- 
ordination  is  nothing  for  you  to  meddle  with,  any 
more  in  religious  than  in  money-making  matters. 
In  each  it  is  in  equal  force,  but  'tis  God's  business, 
not  yours.  If  you  will  meddle  with  it,  you  deserve 
to  get  befogged  and  puzzled,  though  there's  nothing 
against,  but  everything  for  you  in  it.  But  let  it 
alone,  if  it  troubles  you. 

What  farmer,  when  the  sun  runs  high,  and  the 
earth  is  ready  for  the  seed,  and  the  small  rain  and 
the  dew  are  coming  on  the  earth,  says :  "  I  believe 
in  fore-ordination ;  I  shall  not  take  the  trouble  to 
plant.  If  I'm  to  have  a  harvest,  I  shall  have  one." 

Or  what  merchant,  when  he  goes  to  his  store  in 
the  morning,  says :  "  If  I'm  to  have  a  good  large 
heap  of  money  in  my  till  to-night,  I  shall  have  it 
there.  No  need  for  me  to  trouble  myself  to  please 
customers,  I  believe  in  fore-ordination." 

Men  are  not  fools  enough  for  this  in  temporal  con 
cerns,  though  plenty  of  them  are  so  in  regard  to  the 
interests  of  their  immortal  souls.  No,  when  they 
see  God  working  for  them  in  nature,  they  take 
hold,  with  a  right  good  will,  and  work  too.  And, 
as  a  general  thing,  they  gain  the  blessing  for  which 
they  strive.  In  other  words,  they  do,  in  these 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         121 

minor  matters,  "  work  with  God,"  to  will  and  to 
do  of  his  own  good  pleasure ;  but  when  it  comes  to 
spiritual  work,  they  hold  quickly  back,  and  ex 
claim  :  "  Oh !  fore-ordination  !"  But  this  will  be  no 
plea  for  them,  when  they  come  forth  from  their 
graves ;  and  when,  from  mountain  and  valley,  and 
from  the  dark  wave.s  of  the  sea,  they  lift  up  their 
blanched  faces  to  their  Judge.  Of  all  the  myriads 
who  will  stand  before  him,  there  will  not  be  one 
who  will  have  a  word  to  say — they  will  "be 
speechless."  For  five  dollars  a  man  will  appeal  to 
a  higher  court.  He  will  go  from  court  to  court, 
sooner  than  lose  " his  rights"  He  will  have  new 
trials,  if  such  a  thing  can  be  accomplished,  and 
spend  three  times  the  sum  for  which  he  is  contend 
ing,  sooner  than  he  will  submit  to  be  wronged  out 
of  it.  Men  do  not  suffer  injustice  tamely,  but  here, 
where  all  that  is  of  value  to  the  never-dying  soul 
is  at  stake,  here,  just  upon  the  edge  of  the  ever 
lasting  and  most  dreadful  woe;  here,  where,  if 
there  was  one  single  consideration  which  would  tell 
for  them,  they  would  be  most  patiently  and  gladly 
heard,  there  will  not  be  found  one — not  one — who 
shall  have  the  assurance  to  utter  a  single  syllable. 

So  clear  will  be  to  them  the  utter  folly  and  will 
fulness  of  their  self-ruin,  that  when  sentence  is 
pronounced,  they  will  turn  in  dead  silence  from 
the  face  of  Him  who  sought  them  all  their  lives, 

6 


122        LIVING    WOKDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

and  veiling  their  faces,  they  will  take  the  plunge, 
from  which  he  could  not  save  them.  There  will  be 
but  one  expression,  and  one  wail  through  all  that 
endless  falling,  and  that  will  be :  "  Soul,  thou  hast 
destroyed  thyself." 


BECOMING  a  Christian  is  not  becoming  better  than 
one's  neighbor ;  it  is  becoming  better  than  one's 
self.  It  has  no  reference  whatever  to  other  people. 
No  one  need  to  feel,  when  his  neighbor  becomes  a 
Christian,  "  That  man  has  set  up  to  J)e  better  than 
we  are  now,  we  will  therefore  watch  him,  and  see 
how  his  saintship  gets  along." 

The  language  of  a  man  standing  here  to  enter 
the  church  is  not,  as  many  suppose,  "  I  have  be 
come  so  good  that  I  think  it  will  do  for  me  to 
join  myself  to  Christians."  Far  from  it ;  his  lan 
guage  is,  "  I  have  come  to  see  that  I  am  so  wicked 
and  so  helpless  that  I  cannot  stand  alone.  I  am  not 
fit  to  stand  out  in  the  world.  I  shall  certainly 
perish  there.  Oh!  brethren,  I  have  got  my  eyes 
open  to  my  danger  and  my  sin ;  I  have  had  a 
vision  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  his  love  and  pity 
for  me.  I  am  touched  with  love  for  him.  I  would 
be  fashioned  by  him ;  but  I  dare  not  stand  alone. 
If  you  can  help  me,  if  there  is  any  safety  among 
you  which  in  the  world  I  do  not  know,  for  the  love 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        123 

of  God  receive  ine,  and  hold  me  up  until  I  am  able 
to  sustain  myself." 

There  are  men  who  come  into  this  church  who 
are  a  great  deal  worse,  in  many  respects,  than  some 
others  whom  I  would  not  vote  to  admit  as  mem 
bers,  simply  because  the  first  I  believe  to  be  Christ 
ians,  and  the  latter  not. 

Suppose  five  brothers  went  West  to  farms, 
bought  here ;  when  they  got  there,  one  found  his 
farm  to  be  a  swamp ;  another  found  his  to  be  full 
of  stumps  and  rocks,  with  a  poor  soil  when  he  got 
at  it ;  another  found  his  rather  better,  but  still 
poor  enough  ;  a  fourth  found  his  good  land,  but 
uncleared;  while  the  fifth  had  a  farm  on  the  rolling 
prairie,  with  a  rich,  dark  soil  that  only  needed  seed 
to  yield  abundantly. 

At  the  end  of  a  year,  the  man  who  owned  the 
marsh  has,  by  great  effort  and  unremitting  indus 
try,  got  his  land  drained,  manured,  and  a  few  acres 
of  it  under  cultivation ;  the  second  has  progressed 
a  little  further,  though  with  less  labor ;  the  third, 
still  further ;  the  fourth  has,  with  one  quarter  the 
pains  and  expense  of  the  first,  got  four  times  as 
much  done ;  while  the  fields  of  the  fifth  are  laden 
with  a  rich  harvest.  He  is  making  money  the  first 
year.  One,  judging  from  appearances  of  the  merits 
of  these  farmers,  might  say  the  man  who  owns  the 
fifth  farm  is  the  best  farmer.  I  tell  you,  nay.  He 


124:      LIVING  WOEDS  FROM  PLYMOUTH  PULPIT. 

is  the  man  for  work  and  for  courage  who  has 
struggled  through  the  disadvantages  of  that  first 
farm,  and  has  made  it  begin  to  bear  fruit. 

There  are  some  men  who  are  born  of  a  good 
stock  ;  they  have  well  balanced  minds,  good 
natural  dispositions,  and  are  educated  in  the  very 
hot-beds  of  piety.  When  such  are  converted  there 
can  be  but  little  change  in  their  conduct.  The 
springs  and  motives  of  life  are  touched,  and  what 
before  was  done  as  unto  man,  or  from  a  mere  sense 
of  duty  or  propriety,  now  flows  from  love  to  God. 
Men  look  at  such  persons  and  say,  "  Well,  they  ought 
to  go  into  the  church ;  they  will  be  an  honor  to  it." 
But  when  the  poor,  crooked,  crabbed,  ill-conditioned, 
ill-constructed  sinner,  who  is  so  bad  that  it  needs  a 
whole  conversion  for  every  faculty  in  him ;  who  is 
possessed  not  only  of  seven  devils,  but  of  seven 
devils  for  every  one  of  his  powers,  comes  humbly 
saying,  "  The  love  of  Christ  has  touched  even  my 
heart — oh  help  me  to  grow  into  his  image — 
receive  even  me  unto  his  table,"  men  say, 
"  Away  with  him.  He'll  be  no  credit  to  the 
church." 

Now  when  such  a  man  really  does  get  his  own 
consent  to  be  a  Christian,  and  sets  resolutely  about 
it,  he  has  to  work  for  it.  He  does  have  "  a  work  to 
do."  It  takes  not  one  quarter  of  the  religion  to 
make  perfect  saints  of  men  who  by  nature  have 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         125 

almost  everything  done  for  them,  that  it  does  to 
render  this  other  one  even  decent. 

Emphatically.  "  The  first  shall  be  last,  and  the 
last  first." 


THERE  are  men  who  dread  religion,  because  they 
think  it  circumscribes  them. 

Doubtless  the  life  of  a  mere  professor  of  religion 
is  a  life  of  circumscription  ;  but  to  one  who  has  the 
love  of  God  within  him,  there  is  freedom  such  as 
no  other  man  can  know 

What  is  there  of  pleasure  or  of  joy,  that  is 
worthy  of  a  man,  that  /may  not  have  ? 

Is  the  air  less  free,  the  earth  less  beautiful  to  me, 
because  I  am  a  child  of  God,  and  can  rejoice  in  my 
sonship  to  him  who  created  all  things  ? 

Is  love  less  to  me,  because  I  know  and  feel  that 
it  is  to  last  forever? 

Are  social  pleasrires  less  keenly  relished,  or 
friendship  less  valued  by  me,  because  I  know  that 
they  will  be  eternal,  and  are  to  brighten  forever 
beneath  the  smile  of  my  God? 

I  tell  you  there  is  no  man  that  has  half  the  right 
to  the  things  that  now  are,  that  he  has  who  by  faith 
and  love  has  laid  hold  upon  the  things  which  are 
to  come.  To  a  Christian,  earth  is  both  substance  and 
shadow.  It  is,  in  its  better  joys,  a  hint  of  the  perfect 
joys  to  come.  It  is  a  glass  into  which  one  may 


126         LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

look  and  see  reflections  of  eternity.  It  is  an  utter 
impossibility  to  have  any  true  and  continuous  satis 
faction  in  life,  unless  you  do  feel  that  you  have  the 
love  of  the  Giver  of  Life ;  unless  you  love  him. 
If  that  consciousness  is  yours,  though  you  be  shorn 
of  all  other  joys,  that  'will  sustain  you ;  but  the 
probability  is,  that  all  other  joys  will  grow  firm, 
founded  upon  that  one ;  for  ours  are  not  the  days 
when  religion  arrayed  all  earthly  power  against  men ! 


THERE  are  men  who  will  not  seek  for  religion 
when  no  one  else  is  seeking,  because  they  don't 
want  to  be  thought  singular — shame  working 
through  the  organ  of  approbativeness — and  then, 
when  a  revival  comes,  they  won't  seek  it,  because 
they  don't  want  to  get  excited,  and  go  with  a  crowd 
— shame  working  through  self-esteem — and  thus, 
between  those  two  guards,  warding  them  off  from 
the  door  of  salvation,  the  poor  fools  perish. 


MANY  a  man,  awakening  to  a  sense  of  his  wick 
edness  and  trying  to  do  better,  finds  himself  so 
much  worse  that  he  cries  out  in  terror  of  himselt. 

If  any  of  you  who  are  unconverted  doubt  of 
your  need  of  the  help  of  Christ  to  curb  your  sins, 
just  try  for  a  few  days  to  do  it  alone.  They  will 
give  you  work  of  it !  You'll  say  you  never  were 
so  bad  before.  You  never  were  so  universally  in 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         127 

rebellion.  While  your  will  goes  with  jour  selfish 
or  evil  desires  there  is  no  conflict — or  none  that 
makes  much  stir  and  dust.  1  don't  know  as  water 
would  ever  make  any  noise  if  it  were  allowed  to 
flow  unobstructed  ;  but  put  rocks  in  its  way,  let 
logs  stick  up  in  the  current,  dam  it  up,  or  in  any 
way  obstruct  it,  and  then  see — such  a  noise,  such 
a  commotion,  such  a  determined  overflowing  as  it 
makes ;  and  it  will  get  out  somewhere.  So  with 
yourselves — as  long  as  your  heart  is  let  to  flow  un 
disturbedly  hellward,  there  may  be  but  little  trou 
ble  ;  you  may  hardly  be  conscious  that  you  are  a 
rebel  at  all ;  but  lay  on  the  bands,  mark  out  the 
bounds,  hold  in  the  lines — and  what  then  ?  Why, 
then  you  will  see  how  desperate  is  your  case,  and 
will  soon  discover  that  there  is  none  but  the  Son  of 
God  that  can  help  you.  Then  do  not  be  afraid  to 
go  to  him,  because  you  fear  you  can't  hold  out ; 
take  the  first  step  and  he'll  help  you ;  when  you 
fail  and  fall  he'll  always  forgive  you ;  if  you  are 
strong,  and  never  give  over  trying  to  work  with  him 
against  your  besetting  sins,  he  has  promised,  "  I 
will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee." 

Oh  !  friends  bound  with  me  to  the  judgment,  put 
not  this  matter  aside.  I  feel  that  I  could  plead  with 
you  till  the  sun  goes  down,  my  heart  is  so  in  it. 
Talk  not,  I  beseech  you,  as  you  go  from  here,  of  the 
speaker,  the  gestures,  or  the  striking  passages — talk 


128        LIVING   WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

of  the  passages  that  struck,  or  go  thinking  silently 
of  what  is  to  come  to  every  one  of  you.  Let  the 
sun  go  down,  and  when  it  is  set  we  will  pursue  the 
subject,  and  may  God  direct  his  own  word  and 
truth  to  the  salvation  of  souls. 


IF  there  is  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  re 
pents,  I  don't  know  what  the  angels  will  do  now 
that  men  everywhere  are  taking  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  by  force.* 

How  marvellous  is  that  part  of  the  nature  of  God 
that  permits  him,  while  himself  so  pure  and  holy, 
to  take  tenderly  to  his  bosom,  and  comfort  with  his 
love,  creatures  so  full  of  sin  as  we  are.  Sinners  un- 
regenerated  are  perplexed  by  the  joy  and  courage 
of  Christians  who  cannot  but  be  conscious  that  they 
are  yet  very  imperfect,  sinful  beings.  They  do  not 
see  how  we  dare  to  trust  in  Christ  while  we  yet  do 
wrong.  If  we  did  no  wrong  we  should  have  no  fur 
ther  need  of  Christ.  Believing  on  him  is  not  in 
stantaneous  cure  from  sin;  it  is  release  from  the 
curse  and  bondage  of  it,  and  surety  that  the  cure  is 
coming.  Christians  are  like  men  with  some  disease 
upon  them ;  who  have  faith  in  the  physician  that 
has  engaged  to  heal  them,  and  they  lend  themselves 
with  earnestness  to  the  work  of  getting  well.  Re- 

*  March,  1858. 


LIVING   WOEDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        129 

lapses  grieve  them,  but  do  not  discourage.  They 
rise  up  as  often  as  they  fall  down.  They  groan  and 
long  to  be  delivered  from  the  burden  of  death 
which  is  upon  them,  and  they  know  that  deliverance 
will  come. 

Sinners,  until  awakened,  don't  know  that  they 
are  burdened.  They  are  like  sick  men  with  no 
shelter,  no  physician,  no  nurse,  growing  worse  and 
worse  forever.  When  they  are  awakened,  their  first 
thought  and  effort  is  to  try  to  get  worthy  to  come 
to  Christ.  Could  they  do  that,  which  none  ever 
can  do,  they  would  not  need  him.  The  point  at  which 
a  man  comes  to  see  that  he  is  utterly  evil  and  help 
less,  and  consequently  turns  to  Christ  as  his  only 
hope  and  help,  is  thepoint  at  which  conversion  takes 
place.  On  one  side  of  this  point  a  man  is  a  sinner 
without  hope  ;  on  the  other  side  he  is  a  Christian. 
A  sinner  still,  to  be  sure  ;  but  with  a  certainty  of 
healing,  rescue,  and  salvation. 


MEN  take  the  world,  filled,  stuffed  as  it  is  with  all 
good  and  beautiful  things,  very  much  as  gipsies 
would  take  some  glorious  mansion,  furnished  with 
rare  taste,  and  adorned  with  masterpieces  of  art. 
The  chief  room  they  would  attempt  to  occupy 
would  be  the  kitchen,  and  they  would  take  the 
treasures  of  manuscripts,  in  which  were  written 

6* 


130        LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

wonderful  secrets  of  invention  and  science,  and  the 
solutions  of  great  mysteries,  to  kindle  the  fire  under 
their  dinner  pot.  They  would  like  the  pictures,  be 
cause  they  had  oil  in  them  and  would  burn  the 
faster.  Thus  blind  to  the  higher  uses  of  the  things 
of  the  world  are  men.  And  it  is  the  way  of  God 
never  to  stir  one  step  from  his  path  to  show  them 
better.  He  has  given  them  the  faculty  to  find  out, 
and  there  he  leaves  them.  In  the  physical  economy 
of  the  world  there  is  provision  for  all  physical 
wants ;  but  they  lie  for  the  most  part  hidden.  Not 
till  the  earth  is  scarified  and  rent,  forced  open  and 
bored  into,  does  she  disclose  or  yield  her  treasures. 
Near  acres  of  wheat,  men  may  starve ;  by  the  side 
of  forests  and  beds  of  fuel,  they  may  freeze.  God 
will  not  move  one  inch,  or  one  finger  to  save  man, 
if  he  will  not,  with  what  he  has  already  done  for 
him,  save  himself.  So  in  the  spiritual  world,  pro 
vision  for  all  men  is  plenteously  made ;  but  they 
will  be  allowed  to  perish  unless  they  come  and 
appropriate  it. 

All  things  are  to  be  had  for  the  taking ;  nothing 
without. 

Let  no  man  dare  to  think,  "  God,  the  gentle  and 
merciful,  will  save  me,  whether  I  come  to  his  terms 
or  not."  The  whole  analogy  of  life  is  against  the 
thought.  God  will  not  save  you,  body  or  soul, 
except  in  appointed  ways.  It  is  turn  or  die. 


LIVING   WOKDS   FBOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        131 

Unutterably  dreadful  is  the  thought  of  eternal 
death.  Eternal!  It  is  absolutely  suffocating.  I 
have  felt  my  whole  nature  revolt  against  the  horror 
of  the  conception  ;  and  I  would  have  disbelieved  it 
if  I  could.  But  no !  it  is  true — it  is  an  awful  truth, 
and  the  mentions  of  it  in  the  Bible  are  not  so  much 

threats  as  merciful  disclosures  of  what  lies  at  the 

«i 

end  of  the  sinner's  course,  that  he  may  be  induced 
to  flee  for  refuge  to  the  hope  set  before  mm.  Even 
if  the  passages  regarding  hell  could  be  made  to 
mean  something  else  it  would  not  unsettle  my  faith 
in  this  doctrine.  It  would  never  be  enough  for  me 
to  take  these  passages  of  the  eternal  word,  and, 
placing  them  in  the  rack,  wrench  and  torture  them 
until  I  made  the  poor  words  shriek  forth  some  other 
meaning,  unless  I  could  see  that  the  Lord,  who  is 
dominant  over  the  natural  as  well  as  the  spiritual 
world,  turned  aside  in  that  for  the  sake  of  helping 
those  who  in  natural  things  will  not  "  come "  to 
what  he  has  appointed  for  help  and  healing. 

The  ages  have  rolled  and  rolled,  and  through 
them  all  the  sound  of  the  earth's  groaning  has  gone 
up  to  God,  and  he  has  never  stirred.  Man  must 
avail  himself  of  what  has  been  done  for  him,  or  he 
must  die.  God  has  done  all  that  he  will  ever  do 
in  the  matter  of  providing  means  for  salvation. 
The  rest  is  left  to  man. 


132         LIVING   WOKDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

No  man  has  any  business  to  try  to  be  a  Christian 
secretly.  The  light  of  love  is  not  one  for  him  to 
hide  under  a  bushel.  And,  usually,  a  man's  first 
duty  after  conversion,  is  to  make  the  fact  known 
to  the  very  persons  from  whom  he  most  wishes  to 
keep  it. 

I  think  no  sufficient  reason  has  ever  yet  been 
given  for  the  great  reserve  felt  by  us  toward  those 
persons  who  are  most  dear  to  us.  We  shrink  more 
from  saying  to  our  parents,  wives,  husbands  and 
children,  the  things  that  lie  deepest,  than  to  any 
one  else  in  the  world.  Why  this  should  be  so  it  is 
not  easy  to  understand. 

I  can  very  well  understand  how  and  why  a  man 
hates  to  say  to  his  business  partner,  with  whom  he 
has  long  been  engaged  in  cheating  people — "  I 
have  become  a  Christian."  I  know  that  it  must 
make  him  twinge,  and  feel  particularly  uncom 
fortable  to  stand  up  and  own  this,  and  to  have 
his  partner  say,  "  Ah !  well,  how  is  it  to  be 
now  about  those  profits  that  we  have  hitherto 
shared  between  us?  Those  extra  profits — profits 
that  we  got  in  those  ways,  you  know.  Am  I  to 
have  them  all  now  ?" 

I  can  imagine  how  a  liquor-dealer  would  feel  to 
own  his  conversion,  and  to  hear,  "  Well,  what  are 
you  going  to  do  ? — going  to  join  the  church?" 
"  Yes,  if  they'll  have  me." 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         133 

"  Going  to  set  up  family  prayer  ?" 
"  Yes,  I  shall  pray  in  my  family." 
"  Well,  what  else  are  you  going  to  do  ?" 
"  Why,  I  shall  try  to  do  my  duty." 
"  Yes,  but  about  the  liquor ,  I  mean." 
No  doubt  all  this  comes  .hard.     But  these  things 
have  got  to  be  met  and  dealt  with.     If  a  man  is 
noble  he  will  say,  "  Not  only  will  I  put  out  my  eye 
if  it  offends  me,  but  I  will  put  out  both  eyes ;  for 
I  have  got  two  eyes  opened  in  my  soul  that  are 
worth  more  to  see  with  than  forty  *  bodily  eyes." 


SINS  against  society — which  is  money — are  felt  to 
be  very  sinful,  by  those  who  have  the  money  and 
who  mean  to  keep  it.  Strike  the  side  of  a  bee-hive 
and  see  how  the  bees  will  swarm  out,  and  buzz  and 
buzz  to  defend  themselves.  Go  on  to  Wall  street 
or  Broadway  with  any  indulgences  for  financial 
sins,  and  there  will  be  equal  buzzing  there.  Crimes 
are  owned  to  be  sins  indeed,  because  they  touch 
the  material  interests  of  men,  or  hurt  their  affec 
tions — their  selfishness ;  but  when  you  pronounce 
men  sinful  in  the  higher,  spiritual  sense,  they  can 
not  feel  anything  about  it.  There  are  greater  sins 

*  "Forty  "  and  "five  hundred"  are  Mr.  Beecher's  favorite,  and 
most  frequently  mentioned  numbers.  He  seems  to  have  exempted 
them  from  his  general  dislike  to  figures. 


134:        LIVING   WOKDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

and  smaller  sins,  it  is  true ;  but  all  that  is  not  of 
faith  and  love  is  sin.  Jonathan  as  truly  broke  the 
law  of  his  father  the  king,  by  tasting  the  honey  on 
the  end  of  his  rod,  as  if  he  had  slaughtered  an  ox 
and  partaken  of  its  flesh.  As  long  as  a  man  com 
mits  no  crime  he  donjt  feel  himself  condemned, 
though  his  spiritual  nature  be  dumb,  dead,  petrified. 


THERE  are  seasons  peculiarly  fitted  for  becoming 
a  Christian.  There  are  no  feelings  or  sentiments 
of  which  the  soul  is  capable  but  what  have  their 
tides.  They  ebb  and  flow  like  the  sea.  This  seems 
to  be  one  of  the  laws  of  our  nature. 

There  are  times  when  the  popular  tide  sets 
towards  religion  ;  when  all  outward  circumstances, 
as  well  as  all  inward  yearnings,  conspire  to  invite 
and  even  press  the  sinner  towards  God. 

Some  persons  object  to  revivals,  saying,  "  We 
don't  believe  in  feeling  and  impulse.  We  think 
religion  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  entered  upon 
hastily.  We  think  it  requires  calm  consideration." 

Well,  you  man,  twenty,  thirty,  forty  years  old, 
you  with  the  grey  hairs  fast  covering  you,  how 
much  longer  do  you  wish  to  consider?  Remember 
that  Death  sometimes  strikes  without  much  con 
sideration.  What  if  he  strikes  you  ?  Where  will 
your  calm  thoughts  be  then  ? 


LIVING   WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.  -     135 

Truly,  'tis  a  wise  piece  of  business  for  a  man, 
hanging  by  no  more  than  a  single  hair  over  the 
bottomless  pit,  to  say  to  the  friend  who  throws  him 
a  stout  rope,  "  Wait,  I  must  consider  calmly  of  this 
— I  don't  believe  in  being  in  a  hurry."  There  are 
some  cases  where  consideration  is  crime — where  de 
liberation  is  death.  Unutterable  fools  !  that  think, 
and  think,  and  only  think,  upon  the  borders  of 
perdition.  The  sands  beneath  their  feet  are  crum 
bling  and  shifting  away ;  but  they  must  think,  they 
say,  when  one  calls  to  them  to  run.  And  so  they 
pause,  and  perish. 

Feelings  ought  to  be  regarded;  sympathetic 
emotion  is  good  for  hearts.  As  much  so  in  religion 
as  elsewhere. 

Resist  not  the  spirit  when  your  heart  is  tender 
and  your  thoughts  turn  in  you,  and  lift  themselves 
up  towards  God. 

WHAT  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ?  this  is  now 
the  daily  utterance  of  men's  voices.  Believe  on 
Christ — drop  instantly  and  forever  all  known  sins — 
all  meannesses,  all  dishonesties,  all  unkindnesses, 
at  home  and  everywhere,  all  wrong  thoughts  and 
evil  imaginations.  You  never  can  go  in  at  "  the 
strait  gate,"  with  any  of  these  clinging  to  your 
will. 

Do  you  cry  out,  "  I  cannot  do  this  ;  the  work  is 


136        LIVING   WOKDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

too  hard  for  me — if  I  quit  my  sins  they  won't  quit 
me.  I  cannot  say  to  passion,  avarice,  selfishness, 
and  pride,  c  lie  down  and  move  no  more  ;'  I  cannot 
think  right,  and  act  right.  I  am  not  able  to  enter 
the  gate  if  this  is  the  way."  If  you  think  thus, 
how  comes  it  that  you  have  been  putting  off  this 
matter  of  repentance  to  a  sick-bed,  or  to  old  age  ? 
If  you  cannot  reform  your  thoughts  and  disposition 
now,  how  can  you  then  ?  You  say  truly,  you  cannot 
reform  them,  and  for  this  cause  you  need  a  Saviour. 
But  you  can  remove  them,  and  turn  from  them,  and 
consecrate  your  whole  body  and  soul  to  him,  and 
he  will  reform  you  by  aiding  all  your  efforts.  He 
will  forgive  as  often  as  you  break  down,  if  you 
carry  a  steadfast  purpose  to  conquer  self,  for  the 
sake  of  his  love.  He  will  not  fail  you,  if  you  are 
sincere  in  seeking  him ;  but  he  will  abhor  your 
offering  if  you  do  not  mean  to  make  clean  work 
with  yourself  by  laying  open  your  whole  heart 
and  life  to  his  influence. 

Many  shall  seek  to  enter  in,  and  shall  not  be 
able  ;  but  not  because  of  any  trouble  in  the  gate, 
or  in  the  Lord  that  stands  at  the  head  of  the  way, 
but  because  they  try  to  carry  in  their  barrels  of 
spirit,  or  their  selfishness,  or  their  vile  and  evil 
dispositions  and  habits.  Such  can  never  enter. 
No  rich  man  can  go  through  that  gate  carrying 
with  him  his  usury,  or  his  exorbitant  rents,  wrung 


LIVING   WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         137 

from  sweating  and  groaning  tenants.  No  unjust 
judge  can  go  through  with  his  oppressions.  But 
there  never  was,  and  never  will  be,  a  naked,  trem 
bling  soul,  sincerely  sorry  for  sin,  and  heartily  de 
sirous  of  escaping  from  its  power,  and  to  be  made 
white  in  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  for  which  there  is 
not  abundant  room.  And  yet  "  Many  shall  seek 
to  enter  in  and  shall  not  be  able."  Many  are  the 
secret  sins  of  heart  and  life  whose'  clinging  shall 
prevent  the  sinner. 

Ships,  when  the  tide  rises  and  sets  strongly  in 
any  direction,  sometimes  turn  and  seem  as  if  they 
would  go  out  upon  it.  But  they  only  head  that 
way,  and  move  from  side  to  side,  swaying  and 
swinging  without  moving  on  at  all.  There  seems 
to  be  nothing  to  hinder  them  from  sailing  and 
floating  out  to  sea  ;  but  there  is  something. 

Down  under  the  water  a  great  anchor  lies  buried 
in  the  mud.  The  ship  cannot  escape.  The  anchor 
holds  her.  And  thus  are  men  holden,  by  the  cords 
of  their  own  sins.  They  go  about  trying  to  dis 
cover  some  way  to  be  forgiven,  and  yet  keep 
good  friends  with  the  devils  that  are  in  them. 
And  this  they  call  "  being  serious."  It  is  almost  all 
self-will  fighting  against  the  Spirit  of  God.  Now, 
let  men  be  honest  with  themselves,  and  if  they 
think  their  sins,  any  or  all  of  them,  are  better  than 
the  love  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  their  souls, 


138        LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

why  stick  to  them,  that  is  all ;  and  give  up  think 
ing  ;  but  if  they  feel  that  the  redemption  of  the  soul 
is  precious,  and  that  it  ceaseth  forever^  let  them 
abandon  all  that  hinders  it,  and  begin  at  once  to 
work  with  God  for  their  own  salvation.  What 
they  can  do  they  must  do,  or  be  lost,  and  that  is, 
stop  all  wrong  doing  that  they  can  stop ;  what  they 
can't,  Christ  will  attend  to,  reforming  their  in 
terior  dispositions  by  the  love  which  he  will  shed 
abroad  in  their  souls.  Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  for  why 
will  ye  die  ?  Now  is  the  accepted  time — all  things 
now  are  ready.  The  Lord  has  brought  you  nigh 
unto  him,  and  on  every  side  of  you  men  are  hasten 
ing  to  make  their  peace  with  God.  Beware  how 
you  let  this  opportunity  pass.  You  may  not  have 
another.  What  would  you  say  when  some  great 
steamer  had  run  aground  where  there  was  but  one 
tide  in  a  year  that  would  float  her,  if,  upon  the  day 
before  that  tide  came,  her  officers  got  together  for 
a  council,  and  decided  that  as  there  was  but  one 
tide  a  year,  and  they  didn't  believe  in  taking  advan 
tage  of  extraordinary  times,  that  they  should  make 
no  effort  to  get  the  ship  off.  When  the  tide  rose,  surg 
ing  and  booming  about  the  ship,  if  they  had  got  up 
steam  and  set  all  sail,  and  worked  her  giant  wheels, 
grating,  groaning,  and  reluctant,  she  might  have 
moved  and  struggled  off  into  deep  soundings.  But 
they  let  the  flood  tide  pass;  and  the  water  sank 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        139 

away  from  the  ship's  keel,  and  she  cracked  and 
parted  asunder. 

Anon  the  beautiful  and  mighty  ship  was  floating, 
but  it  was  plank  by  plank,  and  spar  by  spar. 

What,  I  ask,  would  you  think  of  those  officers  ? 

But  what  is  a  ship  when  compared  to  a  human 
soul;  which,  being  created,  is  to  go  step  by  step 
with  God  throughout  eternity ;  forever  rising  in 
purity  and  love,  or  forever  sinking  into  the  black 
ness  of  darkness  ? 

When  you  and  I,  my  hearers,  stand  in  the  fore 
front  of  the  judgment  ranks  to  hear  our  doom, 
when  all  above  us  and  around  is  the  glory  and  the 
brightness  of  the  Holy  City,  and  all  beneath  us  is 
the  blackness. of  despair,  you  will  not  accuse  me  of 
exaggeration  in  saying  to  you  that  there  are  none 
so  unwise,  so  blind,  so  miserably  foolish  and  despe 
rate,  as  those  who,  for  any  cause,  do  not  first 
attend  to  the  safety  of  their  own  souls.  With  all 
my  power  I  warn  you ;  with  all  my  strength  I 
entreat  you  ;  with  all  my  skill  I  will  aid  you.  Oh  ! 
seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found. 


I  OFTEN  find,  in  talking  with  people,  that  they 
are  in  a  state  amounting  to,  or  which  ought  to 
amount  to,  conversion.  They  see  and  feel  their  sin- 
fulness  and  need  of  Christ ;  ihejr  are  prepared  to 


140        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

cut  off  limbs  or  pluck  out  eyes  in  his  service. 
They  tell  me  with  tears,  that  they  have  moments 
of  great  affectional  yearning  towards  him  ;  and  yet 
they  don't  "  go  off."  They  are  waiting  to  gefc 
something  more,  although  they  don't  exactly  know 
what,  aboard.  When  I  go  and  talk  with  them 
they  seem  all  right ;  but  I  leave  them,  and  they 
stand  still.  I  find  them  in  the  same  spot  day  after 
day.  Now,  there's  no  use  in  my  going  to  talk 
with  such  people.  They  must  get  themselves  to 
work ;  they  must  begin  to  do  something,  as  well  as 
feel  so  much.  Let  them  enter  upon  the  Christian 
life  at  once ;  perform  every  known  duty — stop 
every  known  sin. 

Here  is  a  clock ;  the  works  are  all  right,  the 
hands  point  to  the  right  time,  and  'tis  all  properly 
wound  up.  Everything  is  in  prime  order,  and 
ready  to  go.  But  it  don't  go.  What  is  the  mat 
ter  ?  You  look  at  it  an  hour  hence,  and  the  hands 
have  not  stirred.  You  move  them  forward  and 
leave  it,  and  the  next  hour  you  have  got  to  set 
them  again.  This  sort  of  work  you  may  keep  at 
forever.  As  long  as  the  pendulum  is  not  moved 
the  clock  won't  go.  Let  that  begin  to  tick,  and  all 
is  at  once  right  and  busy.  Now,  let  those  persons 
who  are  all  wound  up  just  begin  to  tick.  Start 
your  pendulum  and  the  trouble  is  over. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         141 

THERE  are  many  persons,  and  I  find  them  chiefly 
women,  who  do  not  experience  any  deep  throes  or 
trouble  in  entering  the  right  way. 

Their  conviction  of  sin  is  not  such  as  catches 
them  and  plunges  them  headlong  into  agonies  and 
horrors  of  great  darkness  ;  but  they  look  on  Christ 
and  love  him,  and  at  once  accept  him.     They  have 
a  real,  but   not  particularly  powerful  knowledge 
that   they  are  lost   without  him.     They  are  con 
scious  that  they  are  poor  and  sinful,  very  much  as 
a  little  child  is  conscious  that  he  is  ignorant,  and 
they  go  to  Jesus  for  riches  and  righteousness  very 
much  as  the  child  goes  to  school  for  learning.     The 
child  has  faint  ideas  of  how  utter  is  his  ignorance  ; 
but  after  he  begins  to  learn  he  sees  it  more  and 
more.      These    penitents    are    but   faintly    aware 
how  deep  is  their  sinfulness  until  they  have  begun 
to  see  as  God  sees,  which  is  not  for  some  time  after 
he  has  blessed  them  with  his  adoption.     Often  the 
fact  that  there  was  so  little  struggle  in  their  con 
version  has  caused  them  to  doubt  its  genuineness ; 
and  so  they  have  got  into  great  darkness ;  but  they 
must  remember  that  God  leads  men  to  him  in  ways 
best  suited  to  their  own  natures  and  dispositions, 
and  while  they  who  are  naturally  passionate  and 
willful,  who  have  more  strength  than  tenderness  in 
their  dispositions,  are  often   seized  and  rent  like 
him  out  of  whom  went  the  furious  devil,  and  are 


142         LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

left  wallowing  upon  the  earth  before  they  will  look 
to  their  Saviour,  those  who  are  of  a  gentle  and  lov 
ing  disposition,  whose  will  has  been  trained  to  sub 
mission,  and  who  have  lived  chiefly  in  their  higher 
nature  all  their  days,  will  not,  they  ought  not  to,  find 
it  hard  to  come  to  Jesus  Christ  to  put  their  arms 
about  his  neck,  and  tell  him  with  gushing  love,  that 
they  give  themselves,  body  and  soul,  into  his  keeping. 
Blessed  are  they  who  can  look  upon  the  Saviour, 
and  so  instantly  feel  his  goodness  and  beauty,  and 
be  so  penetrated  by  his  wonderful  love,  that  with 
hardly  a  thought  of  self,  they  run  to  him  and  offer 
him  themselves.  This  is  the  highest  form  of  con 
version.  Conviction  will  be  sure  to  be  felt  by  such 
hearts  as  these  every  time  the  thought  of  what  it  is 
to  grieve  such  a  Saviour  touches  them.  And  the 
longer  they  live  the  worse  will  their  own  sins,  and 
all  sins,  look  to  them.  Let  no  one  then,  who  has 
enough  conviction  to  honestly  desire  to  forsake  sin, 
and  to  understand  that  in  Christ  lies  all  his  help, 

V 

wait  for  more  or  for  a  deeper  feeling.  If  the  wind  is 
blowing  two  knots  an  hour,  don't  wait  till  it  blows 
ten  knots  before  you  start  your  ship.  If  there's 
enough  wind  to  start  on,  start — be  off.  If  you  want 
to  come  to  Christ,  come,  don't  wait  for  anything. 
If  you  can't  feel  as  bad  as  you  want  to,  don't  stop 
on  that  account.  When  you've  learned  to  love  God, 
you'll  feel  more  than  you  can  ever  imagine  now. 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         143 

WHEN  serious  persons  ask  me  what  to  read,  I  am 
accustomed  to  say :  "  There  is  a  little  old  book 
called  Matthew's  Gospel,  which  I  think  would  suit 
your  case.  And  there  are  three  others  which  are 
just  as  good:  Mark,  Luke,  and  John." 

Don't  go  to  the  side  helps  of  commentaries  until 
after  conversion.  I  think  that  commentaries  for 
inquirers  are  like  the  spider  webs  of  fifty  years  over 
windows,  for  sight.  You  must  brush  them  all 
away  before  you  can  see  clearly.  No  book  in  the 
wide  world  has  been  so  be-webbed  as  the  Bible. 
Commentaries  are  very  well  for  those  who  need 
helps  in  dates,  or  in  sacred  history ;  but  let  the 
awakened  sinner  go  straight  to  the  fountain-head  of 
truth — the  Bible.  And  is  the  reading  all  ?  Oh ! 
no,  read  praying.  And  here  again  is  where  there 
are  many  and  deplorable  mistakes  made.  The 
inquirer,  and  the  young  convert,  try  to  pray  too 
long  and  not  often  enough.  They  try  praying  as 
they  have  always  heard  the  deacon  and  the  minis 
ter  pray,  or  as  their  father  does ;  and  then  they  get 
into  great  distress  because  their  "  thoughts  wan 
der."  That  is  the  best  thing  about  it.  When  they 
attempt  to  do  what  for  them  is  as  impossible  as  for 
a  lisping  babe  to  converse  like  a  philosopher,  their 
thoughts  will  and  ought  to  wander.  If  this  were 
otherwise,  they  would  but  the  better  play  the  hypo 
crite  before  God  by  praying  things  for  which  they 


144        LIVING   WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

don't  and  can't  feel  the  need,  and  in  cold  set  forms 
of  chilling  reverence.  Now  we  have  a  model  for 
the  prayers  of  beginners,  and  'tis  this :  "•  God  be 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  You  can  feel  all  of  that ; 
yon  see  it  begins  abruptly ;  and  it  ends  when  the 
man  is  done. 

No  "  Oh !  thou  mighty,  mysterious  and  everlast 
ing  Lord."  No  "  Forever  and  ever,  amen  !"  about 
that. 

Let  it  be  a  lesson  to  you,  beginner.  Pray  what 
you  feel,  and  not  one  word  more. 

Kead  on;  and  if  you  are  perplexed,  and  your 
thoughts  look  up,  say :  "  Lord,  I  can't  understand 
this.  I  pray  thee  help  me."  Then  stop,  if  you  are 
done. 

Kead  on ;  and  if  a  scene,  or  an  action,  or  saying, 
of  your  Saviour  touches  the  fount  of  feeling,  let  that 
feeling  out,  saying  freely :  "  Dear  Lord,  I  love  thee, 
for  thou  truly  art  worthy  !" 

And  so  on  through  his  whole  recorded  life,  and 
through  your  own  life.  Be  instant  in  prayer. 
Warm,  true,  impulsive,  and  affectionate  in  commu 
nion  with  your  God. 

The  utterances  of  real  feeling  only  are  acceptable 
to  him.  Forced  prayer,  or  insincerity  in  prayer,  is 
like  foul  odor  in  his  nostrils. 

It  is  enough  that  he  is  willing  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  excuse  the  imperfections  of  our  earnest 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.          145 

prayers;  let  us  spare  him  mockery  added  to 
sin. 

If  we  can't  feel  like  praying  for  everybody,  and 
for  everything,  or  like  praying  when  we  think  we 
ought  to  pray,  and  if  we  are  sorry  that  we  feel  so 
dull  and  prayerless,  let  us  say  that  to  God,  and  keep 
silence  till  we  can  feel  more.  God's  heart  is  like 
our  hearts — like  a  parent's  heart.  Our  hearts  are 
made  by  the  pattern  of  his. 

How  would  a  man  like  to  have  his  own  children 
observe  only  set  times  of  coming  to  converse  with 
him  ?  Coming  from  a  sense  of  duty  at  that  ?  How 
would  he  like  to  have  them  arrange  all  that  they 
have  to  say  in  set  and  studied  forms,  very  respect 
ful,  perhaps,  very  laudatory,  very  humble  and  de 
vout,  but  very  heartless  ? 

Think  you  that  what  would  cut  you  to  the  heart, 
coming  from  your  own  offspring,  does  not  at  all 
hurt  him  whose  tenderness  is  the  ocean  out  of  which 
your  drop  is  drawn  ? 

"WHEN  I  was  in  Paris,  I  used  to  rise  early  and  sit 
at  my  open  window.  I  always  knew  when  the 
stores  beneath  me  were  open,  for  one  was  a  flower 
store,  and  from  its  numberless  roses,  and  heaps  of 
mignonnette,  arose  such  sweet,  sweet  fragrance, 
that  it  proclaimed  what  was  done.  It  seems  to  me 

that  Christians  should  be  as  a  flower  store,  and  that 

7 


146        LIVING    WOED3    FliOil    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

the  odor  of  sanctity  should  betray  them  wherever 
they  are.  Not  that  they  should  go  about  obtrud 
ing  themselves  and  their  actions  on  others,  with 
the  cant  of  usefulness,  but  that  they  should  live  the 
purity  and  joy  of  religion,  so  that  men  might  see 
the  desirableness  of  it,  both  for  the  sake  of  noble 
ness,  and  for  the  enjoyment  both  of  this  world  and 
that  which  is  to  come. 


CONVICTION  comes  upon  men  in  a  thousand  dif 
ferent  ways ;  sometimes  a  little  child  climbs  upon 
his  father's  knee,  and  says,  looking  up  earnestly, 
"Pa,  why  don't  you  pray?"  I  tell  yon,  there's 
many  a  man  would  rather  a  pistol  were  snapped  in 
his  face,  than  to  hear  that  question  from  a  little 
child. 


Do  you  say:  "I  want  to  be  a  Christian,  but 
I'm  waiting  to  be  convicted  of  sin ;  it  isn't  right 
for  me  to  do  anything  till  I've  felt  myself  to  be  a 
sinner " — then  to  you  I  am  sent  to  say,  you  have 
no  right  to  wait  for  anything.  Begin,  this  instant, 
to  love  God,  and  to  act  like  a  Christian. 

"  But  I  carft"  you  say. 

Ah  !  have  you  come  to  that  knowledge  already  ? 
That  is  conviction  of  helplessness  in  the  direction 
of  goodness.  Just  go  earnestly  and  perseveringly 


LIVING    WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         147 

to  work  to  act  right  and  to  think  right,  and  you'll 
get  conviction  enough. 

You  may  stand  still  and  wait  for  it,  looking  into 
your  own  heart  to  see  what  you  are,  forever,  and 
not  get  it ;  but  just  try  living  right,  by  the  rules 
Christ  gives,  and  it  will  come  upon  you,  so  that  you 
shall  cry  out,  "  God  be  merciful,  and  help  me  ;  for 
there  is  no  good  thing  in  me." 

It's  everybody's  duty  to  begin  at  once  to  live  like 
a  Christian; 'and  when  they  find  how  they  fail  of 
all  they  want  to  do,  they  will  be  convicted ;  and 
when  they  give  themselves  utterly  into  the  hands 
of  Christ,  they  will  be  converted ;  that  is  conver 
sion,  it  won't  be  becoming  perfect,  but  it  is  ike  first 
step  towards  perfection.  You  must  always  keep 
trying  to  be  good,  just  as  hard  as  if  you  had  all  to 
do  for  yourself;  but  you  must  no  more  be  discour 
aged  by  failures  than  if  you  had  nothing  to  do,  for 
you  have  always,  night  and  day,  an  advocate  with 
the  Father — one  who  is  righteous,  though  you  are 
not — and  who  will  never  leave  nor  forsake  those 
who  trust  in  him.  Therefore,  come  boldly  to  him, 
asking  for  grace  to  help  in  all  times  of  need,  and 
knowing,  that  though  you  fall,  you  shall  rise  again. 


SOME  people  seem  to  make  a  merit  of  great  anx 
iety  for  their  friends  ;  now  there  is  no  merit,  and 
no  use,  and  there  is  positive  harm  in  more  anxiety 


14S         LIVING    WOKDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

for  them  than  will  excite  you  to  do  all  that  you 
can  to  influence  them  aright.  When  that  is  done, 
and  you  have  committed  them  to  God,  then  go 
away,  and  feel  happy  about  them. 


WE  are  a  singing  church,  and  when  wre  are 
dead,  and  men  come  and  scrape  the  moss  from  our 
graves,  they  will  say :  "  These  were  Christians  who 
sans:  much." 


You  are  planting  seeds  for  the  future  as  you  sing 
these  hymns.  Were  you  to  go  away  to  Oregon 
next  year,  this  book,  out  of  which  we  have  all  sung 
together,  would  be  a  hundred  books  to  you ;  how 
it  would  make  you  remember  these  morning  meet 
ings,  these  lectures,  these  Sabbaths. 


WHILE  Brother  was  praying,*  the  words, 

"  Come  up  hither,"  came  to  rne.  As  I  wondered 
what  it  meant,  instantly  it  opened  up  to  me  in  this 
way. 

Suppose  that  I  had  gone  away  from  here  for 
years,  and  came  back  to  find  my  daughter  living 
in  some  low,  obscure  place,  bound  out  to  hard  labor 

*  In  a  prayer-meeting. 


LIVING    WOKDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         149 

for  people  who  took  no  notice  of  her ;  or  worse, 
noticed  her  only  to  abuse  her.  Suppose  my  son 
were  in  another  place,  half  clothed,  half  fed,  and 
suffering  all  manner  of  ill  treatment.  And  thus 
with  all  my  children. 

What  should  I  be  likely  to  do  ?  Should  I  not  at 
once  set  about  lifting  them  out  of  such  situations, 
and  getting  them  up  where  I  was,  I  should  say  to 
them, 

"  Come  up,  my  children ;  you  were  not  born  to 
live  down  there.  Your  place  is  where  I  am.  Come 
up  here  to  me ;  here  is  where  you  belong." 

Well,  this  is  what  God  is  doing  to  men.  He  has 
a  few,  a  very  few  children  living  in  the  high  places 
of  spiritual  life — those  regions  of  hope  and  love 
where  he  himself  dwells. 

But  most  of  his  earthly  family  dwell  far  below, 
and  he  is  constantly  coming  down  to  seek  for 
them. 

He  looks  in  the  region  of  awe  and  reverence,  in 
the  region  of  conscience,  in  that  of  despondency 
and  fear ;  yes,  he  even  goes  down  cellar  after  them, 
and  sometimes  can't  find  them  even  there.  But 
wherever  he  does  find  them,  he  says  to  them : 

"  Come  up  hither — come  up  into  the  region  of 
warmth  and  love,  where  your  Father  dwells.  You 
were  not  made  to  live  down  there.  This  is  where 
you  belong.  Come  up  hither." 


150         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 


must  not  settle  down  indolently  to  wait  for 
God  to  make  fruit  grow  in  us.  He  never  does 
anything  for  us  in  regard  to  character  without  our 
cooperation.  "Work  out  your  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling,  not  servile  fear,  or  abject 
trembling,  but  with  such  eagerness  as  men  often 
feel  in  an  engrossing  work  they  are  so  eager  about 
that  their  nerves  quiver  a  little.  It  is  in  doing 
our  duties,  and  bearing  our  trials  and  vexations, 
that  Christ  is  with  us,  and  will  dwell  in  us  for  our 
comfort  ;  but  he  will  not  dwell  in  us  in  any  such 
way  as  that  we  shall  have  no  more  trouble  and 
pain  in  struggling  with  our  passions,  our  failings, 
our  avarice,  our  pride,  and  all  our  besetting  sins. 
It  is  by  fighting  and  overcoming  these  that  we  get 
to  be  fruitful.  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh 
in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  plea 
sure."  These  things  God  put  together,  and  no  man 
ought  to  put  them  asunder.  As  you  climb  difficult 
hills  your  prospects  will  be  brighter  and  clearer  ;  but 
not  until  you  have  gained  the  highest  peak  of  expe 
rience  will  you  be  able  to  see,  from  horizon  to 
horizon,  the  presence  with  you  of  God  ;  and  then 
you  will  soon  begin  to  descend  ;  for  it  is  generally 
not  until  near  death  that  the  Christian  gets  a  view 
like  this. 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         151 

THE  great  truth  which  God  is  driving  through 
our  times,  as  with  a  chariot  of  fire,  is  the  import 
ance  of  man !  When  this  truth  comes  up  to  the 
church,  does  she  welcome  it  ?  No  !  oh  no — she 
cannot  attend  to  new  comers ;  she  is  busy  in  the 
smoke-house  of  theology,  dusting  the  flitches  of  old 
truth  which  have  hung  there  for  ages. 


A  GRAND  mistake  of  the  old  reasoners  in  their 
arguing  for  the  goodness  of  God,  was  that  they 
tried  to  prove  that  in  the  world  there  is  more  evi 
dence  of  design  for  happiness  than  there  is  of 
design  for  pain. 

Now  that  position  cannot  be  maintained.  There 
is  just  as  much  evidence  of  a  design  to  produce 
pain  as  to  produce  pleasure. 

For  every  adaptation  for  pleasure  that  you  will 
show  me  I  will  undertake  to  show  you  one  for  pain. 
This  life  is  clearly  rudimentary.  Men  are  here  to 
be  hammered  into  something  of  worth  in  the  next 
state  of  existence.  Pleasure  is  to  be  desired  or 
expected  but  as  incidental.  Earth  is  not  the  place 
for  pleasure.  It  is  the  place  where  men  are  fash 
ioned  for  eternity.  A  piano  factory  is  not  the  place 
to  go  to  in  order  to  hear  music.  Suppose  a  man 
were  to  start  for  some  great  piano  manufactory, 
with  the  expectation  of  being  enchanted  when 
there  by  innumerable  Thalbergs. 


152         LIVING    WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

He  goes  along  dreaming  of  the  divine  harmo 
nies  which  will  greet  him  when  he  approaches  the 
place  where  these  sweet-toned  instruments  are 
made. 

He  anticipates  as  much  more  of  delight  than. 
Thalberg  had  given  him,  as  there  are  more  instru 
ments  in  the  factory  than  were  on  the  boards  of  the 
concert  hall. 

"  I  am  going  to  the  place  where  all  those  pianos 
are  made,"  he  says,  as  he  hastens  on.  "They  turn 
out  hundreds  of  them  in  a  day.  Oh !  how  will  all 
sweet,  bewildering  sounds  entrance  my  senses  when 
I  draw  near.  Hymns  and  songs  of  never-wearying 
melody  will  leap  out  at  me  from  every  door  and 
window." 

He  comes  in  sight  of  the  building,  and  instead 
of  hymns  and  choral  melodies,  he  hears  harsh 
noises.  There  are  heavy  poundings,  gratings,  saw- 
ings,  and  raspings.  There  are  legs,  uncouth  and 
clumsy,  to  be  worked  into  proper  size  and  graceful 
ness.  There  are  strings  to  be  tried,  and  separate 
parts  to  be  fitted  and  knocked  together ;  there  are 
great,  heavy  packing-boxes  to  be  made,  and  vari 
ous  other  awkward  and  noisy  work  to  be  done. 

Tools  are  thumping  about ;  cords  and  tackling 
rattling ;  plenty  of  confounding  noises,  but  no 
music. 

The  man  stands  and  sees  the  workmen  ply  the 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         153 

hammer,  and  saw,  and  file,  and  punch,  and  chisel, 
and  auger ;  he  sees  dust,  boards,  and  shavings  fly 
ing  in  all  directions.  Clatter  and  clatter  surround 
him. 

From  the  windows  come  broken  bits  of  board, 
wire,  and  iron ;  also  all  the  different  notes  of 
racket  and  din  ;  but  he  hears  no  sweet  melody. 

Then  the  man  says  in  astonishment,  "Do  they 
call  this  a  piano  manufactory — this  confused 
place,  full  of  all  jangling  noises?  No,  no;  this  is 
no  piano  producing  establishment.  This  is  only  a 
dusty  arid  noisy  workshop." 

Yes,  it  is  a  workshop,  where  are  being  fashioned 
the  instruments,  which,  when  touched  by  skillful 
fingers,  have  power  to  enchant  the  world. 

J3ut  it  is  not  the  platform  on  which  they  are  to 
be  played.  Not  there  are  they  to  give  forth  their 
sweet  harmonies. 

We  are  in  the  workshop  of  humanity.     We  see 
evidences  of  this,  turn  which  way  we  will. 

Evidences  are  numerous  of  a  design  of  pounding 
us.  "We  must  feel  the  mallet  and  the  saw ;  the 
punch  and  the  bore.  AVe  must  be  split,  and  ground, 
and  worked  smooth.  The  pumice  and  the  sand 
paper  are  for  us,  also,  as  well  as  for  the  things  we 
fashion  ;  and  at  last,  when  we  are  all  set  together, 
polished,  and  attuned,  we  shall  be  played  upon  by 
the  music-waking  influences  of  heaven. 


154:        LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

FIGHTING  faults  are  the  most  discouraging  things 
in  the  world. 

When  corn  reaches  a  certain  height,  no  more 
weeds  can  grow  among  it.  The  corn  overshadows 
and  grows  them  down.  Let  men  fill  themselves 
full  of  good  tilings.  Let  them  make  their  love  and 
purity  and  kindness  to  grow  up  like  corn,  that  every 
evil  and  noxious  thing  within  them  may  be  over 
shadowed  and  die. 


MEN  are  not  put  into  this  world  to  be  everlast 
ingly  fiddled  on  by  the  fingers  of  joy. 


THOSE  persons  who  do  most  good  are  least  con 
scious  of  it.     The  man  who  has  but  a  single  virtue 

o 

or  charity  is  very  much  like  the  hen  that  has  but 
one  chicken.  That  solitary  chicken  calls  forth  an 
amount  of  clucking  and  scratching  that  a  whole 
brood  seldom  causes. 


SOMETIMES,  when  mists  conceal  the  bed  of  a  river 
in  which  work  is  to  be  done,  or  which  is  to  be 
forded,  men  are  placed  in  the  tops  of  trees  along  its 
banks,  that  they  may  look  across,  and  sing  out  to 
those  below,  "  Go  on ;  you  are  in  the  right  way. 
We  see  the  other  shore,  though  you  cannot.  March 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         155 

on."  Thus  has  God  put  look-outs  in  the  trees  along 
the  banks  of  the  River  of  Death. 

Not  many — many  are  not  needed  ;  but  in  every 
Christian  community  there  are  some  men  who  can 
see  clear  across  the  misty  waters  to  the  shores  of 
heaven.  God  says  to  them,  "  Bear  witness.  Call 
cheerily  out  unto  your  brothers  who  cannot  see  for 
the  fog  through  which  they  are  walking.  Tell  them 
that  all  is  right.  Tell  them  not  to  flag  or  fear ;  that 
they  are  in  the  right  way,  and  that  the  shore  is  not 
hard  to  gain  if,  only,  they p7^ess  on" 

One  such  man  in  the  tree  will  do  for  the  encour 
agement  of  hundreds  below  in  the  river. 

There  was  but  one  -Moses  to  the  thousand  of 
Israelites  that  entered  the  Jordan. 


YOUNG  Christian,  do  you  want  a  prophecy  of  the 
future  ?  I'll  tell  you  how  to  get  it.  In  the  first 
place,  let  the  future  alone^  then  call  to  your  heart, 
"  Heart,  art  ready  for  each  large  or  small  duty  of 
to-day  ?  If  your  heart  answers,  as  bells  do  him  who 
strikes  them,  if  it  cry  lustily,  and  with  no  tarrying, 
"  Ready,  aye,  ready  !"  and  if  this  is,  day  by  day, 
its  sincere  cry,  you  have  your  prophecy.  You  will 
not  be  troubled  about  dying  when  you  are  dying. 

When  Joseph  sent  for  his  father  to  come  to 
Egypt,  he  sent  men,  and  chariots,  and  horsemen, 


156         LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

and  provisions,  all  in  profuse  abundance.  He 
didn't  suppose  that  the  old  patriarch  could  journey 
with  only  his  staff  for  company,  finding  himself  by 
the  way ;  and  do  you  think  that  when  God  sends 
for  you  he  will  provide  less  bounteously  for  the 
journey  to  his  home  ?  No,  no  ;  when  your  work  is 
ended,  when  your  royal  day  has  come,  you  shall 
have  cause  to  cry  out,  in  rapturous  praise,  Sufficient ! 
sufficient !  sufficient !  is  the  escort  which  thou  hast 
provided  to  bear  me  over  to  the  Heavenly  Land. 


man  can  go  down  the  path  of  memory  or 
experience  into  his  own  heart,  and  with  the  light 
of  God's  word  look  into  all  its  dark  chambers,  and 
hidden  cavities,  and  slimy  recesses,  and  not  corne 
up  with  a  shudder  and  a  chill,  and  an  earnest  cry 
to  God  for  mercy. 


WHERE  Christianity  is  fruitful  of  speculations  and 
barren  of  good  conduct,  infidels  always  abound. 


IT  is  not  death  but  life  that  we  long  for  when  we 
sigh  to  flee  away  and  be  at  rest. 

When  we  think  of  the  grave,  of  the  chill  and 
ghastness  of  death,  we  cannot  say  that  we  are  so 
willing  to  try  it ;  but  when  we  leap  the  grave,  sink 


LIVING    WOKD3    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        157 

the  very  memory  of  it,  and  land  safe  over  in 
heaven,  then,  indeed,  are  we  ready,  aye,  longing 
to  depart. 

How  skillfully  does  Paul  sail  past  the  two 
unpleasing  points,  without  touching  too  hard  on 
either.  "It  is  not  that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but 
that  we  would  be  clothed  upon." 

It  is  not  desirable  to  be  borne  away  alone,  to  lie 
and  moulder  in  the  cold,  damp  grave;  but  it  is 
desirable,  soon  as  may  be,  to  enter  heaven. 


WHEN  you  can  make  an  oak  out  of  a  mushroom, 
then,  and  not  till  then,  you  may  hope  to  make  a 
living  tree  out  of  that  poisonous  toadstool,  the  the 
atre. 

It  was,  even  among  the  heathen  nations,  con 
sidered  a  disgrace  to  be  connected  with  one ;  and 
down  through  all  the  thousands  of  years  which  it 
has  lived  since  then,  it  has  come  with  perpetual 
dishonor  on  its  head. 


MEN  say  we  must  be  honest ;  it  is  our  duty.  But 
they  think  there  is  no  duty  about  being  happy  any 
more  than  about  having  fine  weather.  The  weather 
is  just  as  it  happens,  and  so  they  suppose  it  is  about 
happiness.  But  I  tell  you  there  is  no  more  positive 
command  in  the  Bible  than  this  reiterated  one, 


15S         LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

"  Rejoice  in  the  Lord  alway ;  and  again  I  say 
rejoice"  And  this  rejoicing  is  not  to  be  in  plea 
sure  and  profit,  in  good  prospects,  or  in  sunny  days, 
but  "  in  the  Lord,"  a  joy  that  shall  be  independent 
of  circumstances — a  joy  that  men  shall  be  obliged 
to  confess  must  come  of  religion.  A  Christian  is 
indeed  allowed  to  rejoice  where  other  men  can;  but 
he  is  bound  to  rejoice  where  other  men  cannot. 

Who  cannot  rejoice  when  he  holds  his  first-born 
to  his  breast?  But,  Christian,  you  are  to  rejoice 
when  you  bend,  with  falling  tears,  over  his  coffin. 
"Weep  !  it  is  your  right ;  but  "  rejoice  in  God." 

Who  cannot  rejoice  when  he  walks  with  his 
bride  smiling  beside  him?  But  you  are  to  rejoice 
when  she  lies  stiffened  in  death  on  her  bier. 

Do  you  say  it  is  impossible  for  you  thus,  at  will, 
to  banish  sorrow,  and  recall  joy  ? 

It  is  not  impossible.  You  cannot  do  it  as  you 
can  will  your  eye  to  open  or  shut ;  but  you  can  do 
it  by  controlling  the  causes  of  things. 

You  can  live  in  such  abiding  consciousness  of 
eternity,  that  time  and  the  things  thereof  shall  be 
to  you  but  as  pictures  hung  up  in  a  hall,  which  may 
all  be  taken  away  without  touching  you. 

When  losses  come  upon  you,  you  may  and  ought 
to  sorrow  for  pain  of  present  bereavement,  but  you 
should  rejoice  with  a  joy  which  no  man  may  take 
from  you,  in  the  promise  that  all  of  yours  which  is 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         159 

worth  having  will  be  restored  to  you,  where  it  will 
be  dearer  and  better  than  ever. 

Live  so  that  your  peace  and  joy  shall  be  the 
"  light  "  that  shall  shine  on  men,  showing  them  the 
power  of  religion  thus,  rather  than  by  seriousness 
and  gloom  of  face  and  temper. 


You  are  not  to  follow  after  happiness  as  an  end 
of  life.  So  sure  as  you  do  this,  you  will  never  be 
happy.  But  be  happy  while  you  work  with  God. 
Ye  are  the  temples  of  God.  Be  cheerful  while 
you  help  your  Master  Builder  to  perfect  his  tem 
ple. 

Under  all  discouragements,  bear  up  cheerfully, 
remembering  that  it  is  by  trouble  that  God  puts 
temper  into  the  steel.  If  it  will  not  bear  tempering, 
it  is  not  worth  much.  He  has  promised,  once  for 
all,  "  I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee ;"  and 
has  declared,  "  There  hath  not  entered  into  thy 
heart  the  joys  that  are  laid  up  for  them  that  love 
me."  What  need  we  more  ? 

What  feeble  and  ungrateful  wretches  we  are,  not 
to  be  able  to  rejoice  always,  when  we  have  such 
joys  before  us. 

Much  harm  has  been  done  by  the  idea  that  a 
certain  gloom,  and  a  restriction  of  the  lively  emo 
tions,  bear  some  relations  to  piety. 


160         LIVING    WOKDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

These  bear  the  same  relation  to  it  that  rust  does 
to  the  sword-blade — they  eat  into  it. 

The  command,  "  Be  sober,"  does  not  mean  be 
unmirthful. 


I  WOULD  rather  break  stone  on  the  road,  were  it 
not  for  the  disgrace  of  working  in  a  chain-gang, 
than  to  be  one  of  those  beings  who  are  so  rich  that 
they  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  "  seek  happiness," 
as  they  call  it. 

The  "  upper  class,"  as  they  style  themselves,  are 
ike  flies  of  humanity,  and  if  there  could  be  some 
great  fan  invented  to  sweep  them  all  out  of  the 
way,  it  would  be  a  benefit  to  the  world. 

The  working  of  such  a  fan  would  be  a  very  good 
business  for  somebody. 

And  yet  these  beings  presume  to  make  society's 
laws.  I  must  repeat,  as  the  only  true  description 
of  them  that  I  know  in  the  English  language 
Pope's  lines — "  If  the  gods  be  monkeys,  what  must 
the  people  be  ?" 

WHAT  does  Paul  mean  in  saying,  "  I  am  perse 
cuted,  but  not  forsaken  ?"  It's  a  very  pleasant 
thing,  sometimes,  to  be  persecuted — it's  delicious ! 
When  a  man  has  his  own  house,  and  his  family 
around  him,  as  much  salary  as  he  can  spend,  and 
more  friends  than  he  knows  what  to  do  with,  it  is  a 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         161 

pleasant  excitement,  when  breakfast  is  over,  to  open 
the  papers  and  look  to  see  how  he  is  "persecuted;" 
but  this  was  not  the  way  with  Paul.  lie  was 
driven  out,  and  hunted  up  and  down;  he  had 
neither  father,  mother,  wife,  sister,  brother,  nor 
constant  companion,  save  his  dark-browed  jailer — 
yet  he  did  not  feel  forsaken.  He  was  troubled  on 
every  side,  yet  not  distressed. 

As  a  mailed  warrior  might  stand  amid  flying 
darts  from  Indian  bows,  feeling  them  hurtling  and 
rattling  against  helmet  and  corselet,  and  shield,  and 
falling  about  him  like  hail,  until  they  were  piled  a 
thousand  high,  and  yet  smile,  saying :  "  They  hit 
me  indeed ;  I  am  pelted  and  shot  at  of  the  archers, 
but  I  am  not  hurt."  So  stood  Paul  in  his  armor  of 
proof. 

A  man  in  the  lists  fights  first  with  lance  and 
spear ;  then,  dropping  these,  he  seeks  in  the  closer 
contest,  with  the  shorter  dagger,  to  stab  and  kill. 
Then  flinging  this  away  closes  in  the  deadlier  grap 
ple.  Then  the  two  sway  and  bend,  and  topple  to 
their  fall,  each  struggling  to  overthrow  his  enemy, 
knowing  well  that  who  goes  down  is  the  dead 

o  o 

man. 

They  reel,  they  stumble,  they  fall,  and  at  the 
overthrow  one  feels  the  knee  of  the  conqueror  on 
his  breast,  and  sees  the  deadly  steel  shortened 
above  his  heart.  Thus  was  it  with  Paul — yet  there, 


162         LIVING    WORDS    FEOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

lying  prostrate  in  the  dust,  dying  by  cruel  hands, 
lie  uttered  his  voice,  and  its  triumphant  joy  comes 
ringing  down  the  path  of  ages,  to  teach  us  how,  in 
the  loss  of  all  things,  to  rejoice  in  God. 

Ah !  look  not  in  the  throne  for  strength. 

The  prisoner  in  the  dungeon  was  mightier  than 
the  king.  He  that  was  under  the  throne  was 
stronger  than  he  that  sat  upon  it. 


We  are  not  to  seek  pain ;  but  when  it  is  sent  to  us 
we  are  not  to  fret  and  grumble  at  it,  but  try  and  go 
cheerfully  along,  as  though  we  did  not  feel  it.  It  is 
for  our  good,  our  purification — for  nothing  is  so 
purifying  as  pain,  if  it  be  rightly  borne. 


SUPPOSE  I  could  have  these  faces  gathered  and 
brought  to  me,  and  could  hold  them  thus,  and 
should  ask :  "  Whose  image  and  superscription  is 
stamped  on  this  face  ?" 

"  Care  marked  this  face,"  would  be  the  (fre 
quent)  answer. 

"  Who  marked  this  one  ?" 

«  Fretfulness." 

"And  this?" 

"  Selfishness." 

"This?" 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         163 

"  Suffering  stamped  this." 

«  What  this  ?" 

"Lust!  lust!-' 

"And  this?" 

"Self-will." 

"  And  who  stamped  this  face  ?"  I  should  ask  of 
one — a  rare  and  sweet  one. 

"  This !  why  where  did  you  get  it  ?  "Whose  face 
is  this  ? — how  beautiful !  It  is  marked  by  the  sweet 
peace  of  a  contented  spirit."  I  never  saw  more 
than  a  dozen  of  these  in  my  life. 


THERE  are  multitudes  of  men  who  are  like  sum 
mer  vines.  They  lie  along  the  ground,  and  reach 
out  a  thousand  little  hands  to  grasp  the  stronger 
shrubs,  and  if  they  cannot  reach  them,  they  lie  upon 
the  ground  forever  hoof-trodden,  dishevelled,  and 
beaten  of  every  storm. 


I  HAVE  heard  people  say,  "  What  a  fortunate  cir 
cumstance  it  was  that  that  trouble  came  to-day, 
just  as  I  was  so  well  prepared  to  meet  it.  I  really 
don't  think  I  could  have  borne  it  if  it  had  come  at 
some  other  time."  Very  true ;  you  could  not. 
God  knew  that,  and  he  did  not  send  it  upon  you 
until  he  had  prepared  you  to  bear  it.  It  was  fortu 
nate  for  you  that  he  thus  cared  for  you ;  yet  you 


164        LIVING    WORDS    FFwOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

speak  as  if  its  coining  just  at  that  time  were  all 
accidental. 

H-h-h-k-m !  what  a  fortunate  thing  it  was  for  the 
tree  that  there  happened  to  be  a  blossom  just  where 
the  fruit  wanted  to  grow;  and  what  a  fortunate 
thing  it  was  that  a  bud  happened  to  grow  just 
where  the  blossom  wanted  to  open. 

It  is  a  fortunate  thing  for  my  head  that  I've  got 
a  neck ;  and  it  is  a  very  fine  thing  for  my  neck  that 
I've  got  shoulders,  and  trunk  and  limbs  under  it ; 
and  a  fine  thing  for  all  these  that  I've  got  feet  to 
move  them  all  about  upon.  I  don't  know  what  I 
should  have  done  if  things  had  not  happened  to 
come  just  as  they  did. 

These  things  do  not  come  one  whit  more  along 
the  line  of  sequences  than  did  your  strength  made 
equal  to  your  day. 

That  was  God's  promise  fulfilled  and  you  refused 
to  see  it.  Your  privilege  is  to  be  troubled  about 
nothing.  "  Work  well  to-day  ;  there  all  your  duty 
lies." 

Don't  imagine  trouble ;  don't  borrow  it ;  don't 
die  before  your  time.  When  God  wants  you  to 
die  he  will  show  you  how  to  do  it  easy. 


You  come  to  church  to  be  told  how  to  be  the 
saint ;  you  go  out  into  the  world  to  le  it. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         165 

THERE  is  a  question  in  the  air  that  no  set  of  men, 
be  they  of  what  sect  they  may,  can  steer  quite 
clear  of  in  their  talk. 

This  question  is  sizzling  everywhere.  Hush  it 
up,  cover  it  down,  as  you  please,  it  will  keep  burst 
ing  out.  'Tis  bubbling  up  on  all  sides  of  you. 
You  must  agitate  it. 

God  is  in  this  thing,  doing  what  I  have  all  along 
prayed  that  he  would  do,  viz.,  working  in  a  way  that 
will  make  all  parties  feel  that  the  thing  is  not  of  man. 

He  has  overturned  the  plans  both  of  agitators 
and  of  quietists ;  but  still  he  is  putting  on  the 
spurs.  He  is  forcing  men  to  agitate  the  matter ; 
and  until  they  do  it,  he  will  agitate  them. 

Order  and  quiet  are  good  things,  when  they  can 
be  had  without  the  sacrifice  of  things  that  are  bet 
ter.  But  who  says,  when  he  looks  upon  the  splen 
did  marble  buildings  that  adorn  our  cities,  that  all 
the  noise,  dust,  and  rubbish  which  obstructed  the 
sidewalks,  while  those  buildings  were  rising,  had 
better  not  have  been  made,  even  though  the  price 
of  unbroken  neatness  and  order  had  been  the  per 
petual  continuance  of  the  old,  rat-riddled  shanties, 
which  were  once  where  those  palaces  now  stand  ? 


ENGLAND  is  the  right  arm  of  the  States, 
and  Boston  is  the  hand  of  that  arm. 

That  arm  is  now  outstretched,  and  that  mighty 


166      LIVING  WORDS  FKOM  PLYMOUTH  PULPIT. 

hand  is  clenched  to  give  a  death-blow  to  slavery. 
I  never  felt  so  willing  to  drop  my  oars  as  now. 

Who  would  TOW  when  he  could  go  by  sailing? 

Here  is  a  letter  from  a  southern  slaveholder,  a 
woman,  who  has  written  to  me,  me!  for  advice  as 
to  how  to  get  rid  of  the  slaves  in  a  way  which  shall 
make  them  free,  and  not  utterly  impoverish  her 
self. 

When  southern  slaveholders  write  to  me  on  such 
a  subject  as  this,  then  I  say  it  is  not  hard  for  us  to 
believe  that  the  millennium  is  drawing  nigh. 


To  have  God  and  the  things  of  eternity  con 
sciously  always  in  mind  is  impossible. 

There  is  no  provision,  either  in  nature  or  grace, 
for  such  a  state  of  things. 

But  to  have  him  in  our  hearts,  as  the  governing 
power  of  our  lives,  and  to  carry  our  love  for  him, 
consciously  and  unconsciously,  as  a  mother  carries 
the  love  of  her  first-born  child,  is  what  is  our  privi 
lege  and  our  duty  to  do,  and  our  only  safety.  The 
mother  thinks  of  ten  thousand  things  which,  for  the 
time,  must  crowd  her  babe  out  of  her  mind ;  but 
never  does  she  get  free  of  the  influence  that,  her 
love  for  him  has  over  her.  We  must  make  these 
natural  loves  our  teachers  of  how  we  are  to  be 
filled  with  the  love  of  God.  We  may  go  up  by 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        167 

them  till  we  are  far,  far  above  them  in  regard  to 

•?  • 

what  we  feel  for  him,  who  has  all  loves  in  himself; 
but  we  never  need  to  attempt  impossibilities,  for 
he  will  have  no  such  worship.  Remember  grace  is 
only  nature  blossomed  out ;  it  is  no  new  thing 
grafted  in  upon  nature,  but  nature  won  and  warmed 
into  its  true  growth ;  that  for  which  the  God  of 
nature  made  it.  A  Christian  is  one  brought  back  to 
true  growing.  Educate  your  children  aright,  inure 
them  to  hardness.  Make  them  to  be  like  the  wil 
low  tree,  that  when  broken  from  the  parent  stem, 
they  may  immediately  root  themselves  wherever 
they  strike  ground,  and  bravely  flourish  on  their 
own  responsibility,  instead  of  being  forever  graft 
ing  themselves  on  your  old  trunk  and  limbs. 
Don't  make  women  of  your  sons ;  for  thus  would 
they  have  all  woman's  weakness,  without  her  regal 
excellence. 

A  woman  made  of  a  woman  is  God's  noblest 
work ;  but  a  woman  made  of  a  man  is  his  meanest 
one. 


THERE  is  no  religion  in  the  Bible — I  hope  if 
there  are  any  reporters  here,  that  they  will  wait 
until  I  finish  my  sentence  before  they  run  to  the 

paper — any  more  than  there  is  a  road  upon 

the  guide-board.     The  Bible  is  the  rule,  the  direc 
tion,  by  which  man  is  to  work  out  his  own  salva, 


168         LIVING    WOKD8    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

tion,  as  the  guide-board  is  the  direction  by  which 
he  is  to  walk  out  his  journey.  Religion  is  in  the 
man,  or  it  is  not  anywhere. 


EELIGION  should  not  be  used  as  calking,  some 
thing  to  stuff  into  the  cracks  and  crevices  of  a 
man's  life ;  but  it  should  be  regarded  and  used  as 
the  very  warp  and  woof  of  life. 


all  goes  smoothly,  men  imagine  them 
selves  fully  equal  to  driving  their  own  team ;  but 
when  their  affairs  begin  to  run  away  with  them, 
they  cry  out  quick  enough,  "  "Where's  God  ? 
Where's  God  1" 


IT  ought  to  grow  more  and  more  easy  to  Christ 
ians  to  do  right,  until  at  last  the  acts  that  were 
sore  self-denial  become  a  pleasure. 

When  this  has  come  to  pass  do  not  be  frightened, 
and  begin  to  doubt  your  piety.  Be  glad  and 
grateful,  for  your  graces  are  growing  ripe. 

What  was  once  sour  and  bitter  has  become 
sweet  and  agreeable. 

When  you  first  entered  the  Christian  path,  you 
found  it  hard  to  do  those  things  as  conscience  com 
manded,  and  you  were  often  tempted  to  cry  out : 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         169 

"  Thy  paths  are  not  the  paths  of  peace,  O 
God !" 

You  were  as  children  who,  hearing  their  father 
discourse  of  the  rare  and  luscious  apples  that  his 
orchard  yielded,  straightway  ran  thither,  expecting, 
though  it  was  in  the  early  summer,  to  be  able  to 
judge  of  the  flavor  of  the  fruit.  .Citing  into  it,  they 
cry  with  wry  features,  spitting  and  casting  the 
apples  to  the  ground.  "  Is  this  the  perfumed, 
saccharine  flavor  our  father  talks  of  ?  "We  want  no 
more  of  it." 

The  miser,  when  converted,  finds  that  he  must 
be  a  miser  no  more.  He  sees,  perhaps,  that  duty 
requires  him  to  give  fifty  dollars  to  a  poor  man. 
He  wishes  that  twenty-five  would  do ;  but  it  won't 
do.  He  knows  that.  He  puts  his  hand  into  his 
pocket  and — considers.  He  tries  to  go  away  with 
out  giving  the  sum. 

"  Do  it — do  it,"  growls  conscience  from  within. 

The  man  casts  down  the  money  hastily,  and  runs 
away. 

That  was  a  victory,  but  a  hard  and  painful  one ; 
and  -the  miser  finds  himself  put  through  years  of 
just  such  discipline,  until  at  last  he  is  a  miser  no 
more. 

Giving  has  become  a  blessing  and  a  pleasure  to 
his  heart.  Shall  he  now  say,  dolefully  ?  "I  fear 
I  am  not  a  true  Christian.  I  cannot  see  that  I 

8 


170        LIVING   WOKDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

carry  any  cross,  or  deny  myself  any,  as  once  I 
did.  Why,  I  remember  when  it  was  like  cruci 
fixion  to  give  <away  five  dollars.  But  I  overcame 
nature  and  gave  it,  and  then  I  had  sure  evidence 
that  the  root  of  the  matter  was  in  me.  But  now — 
oh  !  I'm  so  much  at  ease  now,  something  must  cer 
tainly  be  wrong ;  nothing  seems  to  try  me." 

Why,  man,  your  graces  are  growing  fully  ripe ; 
or  take  another  figure. 

It  is  a  great  trick  among  the  boys  to  ferule  each 
other  in  order  to  harden  their  palms  preparatory 
to  blows  thereon  from  the  teacher. 

It's  a  good  thing  sometimes  to  have  the  palms 
hardened.  Yours  have  been  hardened  so  that  giv 
ing  does  not  hurt  them  now. 


are  localities  where  the  gnats,  flies,  and 
mosquitoes  are  so  thick  that  a  man  cannot  see  for 
them.  They  swarm  about  his  head  and  eyes  in 
such  blinding  numbers  that  it  is  utterly  in  vain  to* 
try  to  seek  for  anything  upon  the  ground. 

Thus,  I  think,  it  is  with  the  Bible.  It  has 
been  so  beswarmed  by  commentators  that  it  is 
next  to  impossible  to  think  of  a  text  without 
instantly  hearing  the  buzz,  buzz,  buzz,  of  five  hun 
dred  constructions  and  explanations,  each  one  of 
which  is  further  from  being  any  help  than  the 
others  are. 


LIVING   WOKDS   FBOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         171 

Our  real  commentators  are  our  strongest  traits 
of  character ;  and  usually,  we  come  out  of  the 
Bible  with  such  of  its  texts  sticking  to  us  as  our 
idiosyncrasies  attract. 

The  texts  we  least  need  are  the  ones  we  like  best, 
and  remember  longest.  A  kind-hearted,  lazy  man 
will  remember  "  Blessed  are  the  merciful,"  long 
after  he  has  forgotten  the  injunction  to  be  "  di 
ligent  in  business." 

Health  underlies  all  there  is. of  a  man.  I  think 
a  man  ill-bodied  cannot  think  healthily.  It  would 
surprise  people  to  see  how  many  things  which  have 
shaken  the  world  with  controversy,  and  burdened 
it  with  error,  had  their  origin  in  indigestion.  It  is 
humbling,  but  it  is  true,  that  the  action  of  the  mind 
depends  upon  the  state  of  the  sinews  and  the 
blood.  To  be  sure,  there  have  been  cases  in  which 
from  a  diseased  body  the  mind  has  shone  out 
strong  and  good,  triumphant  over  fleshly  ill ;  but 
these -are  not  the  rule.  No  man  would  think  of 
going  into  battle  with  a  handful  of  unarmed  men, 
because  such  have  won  victories ;  or  of  going  to 
sea  in  an  unrigged  ship  because  dismasted  and 
dismantled  vessels  have  come  safely  into  port. 
Health  is  a  duty.  If  a  man  would  carry  his  mind 
aright,  and  have  it  work  with  power,  let  him  seek 
to  be  healthy. 


172         LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

CHRISTIANS  all  want  to  have  graces,  but  they  are 
not  so  willing  to  take  what  is  necessary  in  order  to 
obtain  them.  The  pale  think  it  a  fine  thing  to  be 
painted — all  the  lovely  flowers  and  gay  colors  so 
skillfully  laid  on  by  the  cunning  hand  of  the  artist; 
but  when  it  comes  to  being  daubed  all  over  with 
some  dark  substance,  when  the  very  gold  that  is 
upon  it  becomes  as  black  as  ink;  when  it  is  thrust 
into  the  heated  furnace,  how  then  ?  how  then  f 

Christians  are  like  vases,  they  must  pass  through 
the  fire  ere  they  can  shine.  And  often  the  very 
furnace  and  the  flame  which  they  call  destruction, 
is  only  burning  in  the  graces  which  are  to  be  their 
everlasting  beauty  and  glory. 


so  much  is  it  much  working  as  it  is  easy 
working,  which  tells.  If  a  man  only  knows  how 
to  use  himself,  if  he  use  all  his  faculties  in  due 
measure,  he  will  scarce  ever  tire.  Most  men  use 
but  very  few  of  their  faculties.  They  are  like  a 
man  who  owns  a  tower  in  which  are  thirty  bells ; 
but  he  never  attends  to  them.  By  and  by  there 
comes  a  day  on  which  he  would  rejoice,  and  he 
goes  to  ring  his  bells.  He  draws  this  rope  and 
that,  but  there  is  no  response,  or  only  a  jingle  now 
and  then,  from  some  cracked  and  rusty  bell. 

At  last,  from  one  great,  hoarse  throat,  at  the 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         173 

• 

top  of  the  tower,  comes  crashing  out  a  heavy 
sound. 

That  bell  is  the  only  one  of  the  whole  thirty  that 
will  ring. 

Or,  men  are  like  houses,  built  very  high,  but 
which  the  owner  had  no  means  of  furnishing  higher 
than  the  first  story — and  there  he  lives,  his  upper 
chambers  all  going  to  rack  and  ruin.  Or  they  are 
like  ships  well  freighted  and  furnished,  when  they 
started  out  from  port,  but  which,  when  they  near 
their  other  harbor,  have  nothing  left  of  them  but 
their  hull.  They  have  made  fuel  of  everything 
within  themselves.  They  are  self-consumed. 


A  MAN'S  worth  should  be  reckoned  by  what  he 
is,  not  by  what  he  has. 


A  WISE  man  is  one  that  knows  how  to  turn  to 
good  account  the  knowledge  which  he  has.  He  is 
not  wise  who  has  mastered  all  languages,  all  sci 
ences,  if  he  lacks  the  ability  to  use  this  knowledge. 
He  is  only  stuffed. 

THE  man  who  tries  to  cut  himself  and  square  his 
conduct  merely  by  the  outward  pattern  of  morality, 
is  as  the  artist  who,  instead  of  studying  his  art  from 


174        LIVING    WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PCLPIT. 

the  boundless  and  glorious  pictures  God  has  painted 
on  the  earth  and  in  the  sky,  goes  into  some  dim 
gallery,  and  pores  over  what  hangs  there  until  he 
can  badly  imitate  the  stiff  drapery,  uncouth  figures, 
inhuman  adults,  and  monstrous  pumpkin-headed 
children,  that  the  canvas  before  him  exhibits.  Ha  ! 
you  love  to  laugh  at  the  artists  ;  but  what  do  you 
think  the  angels  do  at  you^  who  prostitute  not 
merely  your  fingers  and  imaginations,  but  your 
whole  spiritual  nature,  to  the  work  of  making,  not 
bad  pictures,  but  bad,  incomplete,  poverty-stricken 
men.  "  Is  not  morality  good,  as  far  as  it  goes  ?" 
say  you.  u  Yes,  certainly,  as  far .  as  it  goes" 
"  Isn't  my  cable  as  good  as  yours,  as  far  as  it  goes  ?" 
says  the  sailor  who  has  a  short  cable  to  him  who 
has  one  very  long.  "  Yes,"  says  the  other,  "  as  far 
as  it  goes  ;  but  what  of  that,  when  it  won't  go  within 
fifty  fathoms  of  bottom."  And  of  what  use,  oh, 
moralist,  is  your  cable,  when  it  will  not  go  within 
fifty  fathoms  of  the  place  where  it  can  take  hold 
upon  the  soul's  anchorage  ? 


I  DON'T  blame  a  man  for  not  understanding  the 
mysteries  of  God  any  more  than  I  should  blame  one 
who  was  standing  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  for  saying, 
« I  can't." 

"  Can't  what  ?" 


LIVING    WORDS   FHOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         175 

"  I  cannot" 

"  Not  what  P 

"  I've  been  in  ankle  deep,  and  knee  deep,  and 
thigh  deep  ;  I've  been  in  all  over,  and  it's  no  use  ;  I 
never  can  wade  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean." 

"  Of  course  you  can't — nobody  told  you  to. 
What  did  you  try  for  ?  God  never  meant  to  have 
you  do  it,  or  he  would  have  made  it  more  shal 
low." 

Just  in  this  way  do  men  act  in  regard  to  doc 
trines.  They  go  out  a  little  way  on  election,  and 
back  they  come,  shaking  their  heads,  and  saying, 
"  It's  very  mysterious ;  I  can't  understand  it." 
Then  they  try  free  agency,  then  decrees,  etc.,  but 
they  have  no  better  success  with  them.  Well, 
what  of  it  ?  Man,  by  all  his  searching,  cannot  find 
out  God.  I  am  not  ashamed  to  say  that  I  do  not 
understand  his  mysteries.  I  believe  that  what  he 
says  is  true,  if  I  cannot  reconcile  it.  My  own  con 
sciousness  argues  with  the  most  seemingly  contra 
dictory  passages  concerning  free  will  and  sover 
eignty.  I  know  that  I  am  free,  that  by  my  own 
choice  I  perform  moral  acts.  That  with  me  lies  the 
power  of  sinning  or  refraining  from  sin,  and  yet 
when  I  go  forth  with  my  most  buoyant  sense  of 
freedom  to  think  and  act,  I  am  conscious  of  influ 
ences,  of  barriers  which  say,  "Thus  far,  and  no 
further." 


176         LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

I  feel  in  my  very  nature  that  I  am  free,  and  yet 
that  I  do  not  direct  my  own  steps,  nor  appoint  my 
own  bounds.  I  cannot  reconcile  this.  I  know  it ; 
and  there  it  must  rest. 

God  does  us  no  violence.  He  uses  us  through 
the  very  nature  which  he  gave  to  us,  and  through 
our  free  will. 

The  mulberry  leaves  are  stripped  from  the  tree, 
and  the  food  which  they  make  for  the  worm  acts 
upon  it  according  to  its  own  nature.  As  their  na 
ture  dictates,  the  worms  spin  their  cocoons  and 
sleep  in  them. 

Then,  when  the  little  spinners  have  been  de 
spoiled,  the  loom  is  made  and  the  silk  is  woven  and 
stamped  by  the  skill  of  man.  Everything  has  been 
used  according  to  its  nature  in  the  construction  of 
the  silk. 

And  the  web  which  God  is  weaving,  and  the 
pattern  with  which  he  will  mark  it,  will  all  be 
done  in  the  same  way. 

The  whole  plan  is  in  his  mind  now,  and  it  will 
result  as  he  intends,  but  only  through  the  free 
action  of  the  nature  he  has  given  to  man.  His 
plan  embraced  this  idea  from  the  very  beginning 
of  things,  and  every  contingency  is, provided  for  in 
the  eternal  mind. 


A  man  is  better  than  a  peer,  a  prince,  or  a  king. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         177 

SOME  ministers  are  forever  hammering  out  doc 
trines,  making  ploughs  with  which  they  do  no 
work  after  they  are  made. 

Now  Zmake  ploughs  ;  but  when  I  have  finished^ 
them,  I  don't  lay  them  away  to  be  taken  out  and 
're-beaten  the  next  year. 

No ;  my  business  is  to  put  handles  in  my  plough, 
and  then  to  fasten  to  it  a  team  strong  as  eternity, 
and  then  to  force  it  deep,  deep  into  the  soil,  and 
rip,  rip,  rip,  ousting  the  vermin,  scattering  the 
moles  and  nibbling  mice,  and  making  broad  fur 
rows,  in  which  I  may  sow  seed. 

Doctrinal  furrows  are  good  for  nothing  unless 
they  are  planted,  and  doctrines  should  not  be 
preached  so  high  that  they  are  above  the  head  of 
everybody  who  walks  on  the  ground. 


THE  passions  never  keep  Lent,  they  are  always 
holding  Carnival. 


EACH  living  man  bears  a  relation  to  his  whole 
race.  His  having  lived  will  never  cease  to  be  felt 
throughout  the  universe.  No  man  can  live  unto 
himself.  We  own  each  other,  and  God  owns  us  all. 
A  man  never  stands  alone  unrelated  to  anything ; 
but  his  closest  relation  is  always  to  his  Creator. 

A  willow  tree  may  stand  far  from  the  banks  of 

8* 


178         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

the  stream,  and  with  no  apparent  support,  except 
from  the  ground  about  its  trunk.  But  what  are  its 
roots  doing?  Down  burrowing  amid  the  rocks — 
forcing  a  way  'through  the  earth,  seeking  for  open 
ings — pushing  whithersoever  is  the  smell  of  moist 
soil — diving  to  the  level  of  the  cool  well,  and  drink 
ing  deep  of  its  nourishing  waters,  shooting  out  by 
the  brookside,  many,  many  rods  away,  till  its  banks 
are  fringed  like  a  shawl,  seeking  everywhere  for 
the  nutriment  which  gives  life  to  the  tree  above 
them,  is  what  the  roots  are  doing;  and  man  is  like 
a  tree,  only  his  roots  shoot  upward  as  well  as  down 
ward,  and  his  firmest  tie  is  to  the  heart  of  God,  as  his 
surest  and  best  supply  is  from  thence. 

Who  then  can  say,  "  I  am  mine  own ;  I  stand 
alone  uninfluenced  and  un influencing." 


THERE  is  little  hope  of  ever  uniting  men  on  doc 
trines  or  ordinances. 

I  think  I  can  see  in  the  New  Testament  authority 
for  Episcopacy,  for  Presbyterianism,  and  for  Con 
gregationalism.  To  me  it  seems,  therefore,  that 
the  Apostle's  idea  was  that  the  churches  should  be 
governed  according  to  their  necessities,  taking  one 
form,  or  another,  as  was  best  suited  to  them. 

The  only  ground  on  which  all  Christians  can 
have  perfect  union  is  the  ground  of  love. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         179 

Why,  a  little  while  ago  they  gathered  themselves 
together  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  to  form 
one  great  Christian  union  ;  and  the  very  first  thing 
they  did  after  they  were  assembled,  was  to  disfran 
chise  the  whole  band  of  Quakers — among  whom 
God  has  his  saints  and  angels,  if  he  has  any  on 
earth.  May  they  not  have  been  permitted  to  pre 
sent  to  the  world  this  absurd  spectacle  for  the  pur 
pose  of  showing  the  impossibility  of  Christians 
uniting  on  mere  grounds  of  opinion.  Love  is 
the  only  fusing  power  in  the  universe — all  may 
meet  there. 

Three  naturalists  once  went  into  the  woods  to 
find  a  nightingale's  nest.  When  they  had  found  it, 
each  took  from  his  pocket  his  favorite  work  on  or 
nithology  and  began  to  describe  the  looks  and  the 
size  of  the  nightingale  that  was  not  there.  All 

o  o 

gave  a  different  description,  and  they  quarrelled 
over  the  empty  nest,  and  tore  each  other's  books, 
and  made  a  great  noise.  But  now  from  the  thicket 
where  she  had  been  resting,  the  bird  began  to  pour 
a  flood  of  song.  The  disputers  stopped  to  listen. 
The  very  leaves  quiver  in  the  gush  of  melody 
— the  waves  of  air  are  moved — the  forest  is  bathed 
in  music  as  in  a  flood.  When  a  hush  falls  around 
them — for  the  song  is  done,  the  men  straightway 
shut  their  books  and  go  home. 
Men  read  about  God,  and  his  character,  and 


180         LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

they  try  to  think  about  it,  and  undertake  to  de 
scribe  it,  and  finally  they  get  to  quarrelling  about 
what  none  of  them  at  all  understand.  But  some 
times  when  the  truth  shines  out  clearly  on  them, 
they  forget  all  their  supposed  wisdom,  and  in  silence 
go  their  ways  to  love  and  to  adore. 


SUPPOSE  that  I  knew  a  body  of  men  conspicuous 
for  their  faith,  hope,  love,  gentleness,  generosity, 
etc.,  but  before  I  gave  them  my  confidence  I 
wanted  to  dig  down  a  little  deeper  than  practical 
life,  and  I  said,  "  My  dear  sirs,  what  are  your  ideas 
concerning  the  Trinity  ?" 

"Well,"  they  reply,  "  we  don't  know  much 
about  that.  In  fact,  we  have  no  theory  in  regard, 
to  it." 

I  then  question  them  in  regard  to  the  "  per 
severance  of  saints." 

"  We  have  all  been  so  busy  trying  to  persevere 
that  we  haven't  had  time  to  study  upon  the  doc 
trine,"  is  the  answer.  And  so  on  to  the  end  of  the 
doctrines. 

Then,  in  order  to  be  orthodox,  I  should  ha\ie  to 
shake  my  head  at  them  and  say  ; 

"  You  may  escape  into  heaven,  so  as  by  fire ;  but 
I  don't  know,  I  don't  know — I  will  pray  for  you."' 

"  Sound  doctrine,"  says  Orthodoxy,  "  is  the  found- 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         181 

ation  of  religion."  No  such  thing — Jesus  Christ 
is  the  foundation  of  religion.  Doctrine  is  the  most 
delusive  goblin  that  ever  existed,  when  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  certain  men.  They  frame  a  form  for 
Truth,  and  when  she  has  outgrown  and  forsaken 
that  form  they  stuff  it  with  doctrine  and  bid  men 
cling  to  the  old  shell  and  let  the  living  spirit  escape 
them. 


UNLESS  you  have  singing  in  the  family,  singing 
in  the  shop,  singing  in  the  street,  singing  every 
where,  until  it  becomes  a  general  habit,  you  never 
will  have  congregational  singing. 

It  will  always  be  like  the  cold  drops,  half  water, 
half  ice,  which  drip  in  March  from  some  cleft  in  a 
rock,  one  drop  here,  one  there,  whereas  it  should  be 
like  the  August  shower  which  pours  down  ten 
million  drops  at  once,  and  roars  upon  the  roof. 


THE  ministry  is  inclined  to  think  that  a  truth  has 
no  chance  at  all  with  refined  and  educated  men, 
unless  it  have  a  refined  dress.  Now.  although  it  is 

'  O 

true  that  such  men  do  look  for  what  shall  accord 
with  their  delicate  and  elevated  tastes,  and  although 
even  the  truth  of  God  is  better  if  presented  in  chaste 
and  elegant  language,  there  are  always,  in  every 
man's  heart,  great  cords  underlying  all  these 


182         LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

lighter  desires,  which  will  answer  instantly  and 
powerfully  to  the  touches  of  feeling — even  though 
it  be  rudely  expressed.  When  a  man  overflows, 
and  in  his  efforts  to  express  himself  knocks  his  lan 
guage  in  all  directions,  his  honest,  earnest,  outright, 
downright  feeling  is  the  power  which  moves.  It 
would  be  mightier  were  it  well  expressed,  but  the 
feeling  is  the  thing  after  all ;  and  when  a  man  holds 
back  feeling  until  it  chokes  in  the  sand,  that  he 
may  present  a  correct  and  refined  discourse,  he 
betrays  Christ  to  rhetoric. 

When  Paul  said  he  was  determined  to  know 
nothing  but  Christ  and  him  crucified,  he  was  upon 
this  same  theme.  He  was  telling  the  people  that 
he  was  not  going  to  tickle  their  ears  with  fine, 
smooth  periods.  He  said :  "  My  power  upon  you 
shall  not  be  in  my  refined  and  elegant  language,  in 
my  persuasive  eloquence.  It  will  not  be  in  me  at 
all,  but  in  my  moving  subject,  Christ  and  him  cru 
cified.  He  was  going  to  throw  over  them  no  lasso 
of  ensnaring  art;  he  would  declare  to  them  the 
plain  truth  in  words  that  all  could  understand  and 
feel.  Paul  meant  no  such  thing  as  ministers  mean 
now-a-days,  when  they  make  this  declaration.  He 
did  not  mean  by  it  that  he  should  shun  all  touching 
upon  the  things  on  which  duty  called  him  to  speak 
out  boldly,  that  he  should  meddle  with  nothing 
that  could  offend  the  sinning  public,  but  talk  per- 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         183 

petually  of  Christ  and  him  crucified,  without  mak 
ing  this  his  lever  to  heave  from  their  foundations 
the  evils  of  the  world.  Such  talk  is  nonsense,  in 
the  pulpit  or  out  of  it — consummate  nonsense. 


WERE  angry  and  unkind  words  and  thoughts  like 
thunder  and  lightning,  we  should  have  one  unend 
ing  storm,  sweeping  round  and  round  the  whole 
earth. 


WERE  one  to  ask  me  in  which  direction  I  think 
man  strongest,  I  should  say,  in  his  capacity  to  hate. 


I  THINK  that  Scripture  passages  are  like  wayside 
flowers.  We  have  seen  them  all  our  lives,  and 
therefore  do  not  know  or  feel  their  beauty ;  or  they 
are  like  the  beautiful  creations  of  art  that  are  in  old 
cathedrals,  covered  by  the  dirt,  and  moss  of  ages. 
Men  go  by  them  and  do  not  know  that  they  have 
passed  forms  that  gave  expression  to  the  thoughts 
of  ancient  masters.  No  man  cares  for  them,  or 
cleans  them,  until  by  and  by  some  enthusiastic 
Buskin  comes  along  and  does  it,  and  then  'tis  seen 
that  the  things  which  all  their  life  long  they  have 
thought  homely,  are  beautiful  beyond  description. 

What  an  idea  of  God's  prodigality  must  have 


184:         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PDLPIT. 

been  in  Paul's  mind  when  he  thus  struggled  to 
express  himself :  "  unto  him  who  is  able  to  do  for 
you  exceeding  abundantly  more  than  ye  can  ask  or 
think."  And  this  was  his  view  of  his  master's 
character  when  he  was  in  prison,  and  when,  appa 
rently,  affairs  with  the  church  were  desperate. 
This  view  he  held  up  in  the  sky  for  Christians  to 
steer  by.  Such  abundance  belonged  to  God,  and 
God  was  theirs.  Abundance  is  a  relative  word. 
A  shepherd  would  not  consider  that  abundance  for 
him  which  might  be  so  for  a  wayfarer.  "What 
would  be  abundance  for  a  nomad  would  not  do 
for  the  supply  of  the  settled  farmer,  and  the  farm 
er's  abundance  would  be  a  scant  portion  for  the 
merchant.  A  petty  prince  of  a  German  province 
would  require  far  more  than  the  abundance  of  the 
merchant  to  support  his  state,  yet  what  would  make 
his  coronet  resplendent  would  be  but  a  trifle  in  that 
of  the  Russian  czar.  When  from  these  we  look  up 
to  heaven,  and  try  to  imagine  what  that  can  be 
which  Infinity  names  abundance — ".more  than  ye 
can  ask  or  think  " — we  are  bewildered,  and  give 
up  in  despair.  In  the  hours  when  the  spirit 
wafts  our  souls  upward  as  the  wind  sometimes  lifts 
a  bird,  aiding  its  flight,  we  wish,  and  think,  and 
ask  such  things,  as  afterwards  we  wonder  how  we 
dared  to  mention  ;  we  cannot  believe  ourselves  that 
we  ever  soared  so  high  as  we  yet  are  conscious 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         185 

of  having  done.  When  the  heart  yearns  for  our 
selves,  or  for  others,  we  ask  such  blessings  as  we 
almost  fear  are  presumptuous.  But  even  a  mother's 
heart,  deep  as  the  eternal  wells,  when  in  her  closet 
she  kneels  amid  the  sound  of  groans,  and  the  plash 
ing  of  falling  tears,  to  pray  for  her  wandering  child  ; 
even  the  prayers  of  martyrs,  in  their  utmost  agony > 
when  their  words  swept  like  the  Amazon,  and  were 
yet  but  bubbles  on  the  sea  of  feeling  that  was 
beneath,  were  shallow  and  poverty-struck  compared 
to  what  he  will  give  to  each  one  who  loves  him. 
Why,  look  at  the  beginning ;  when  a  child  is  sent 
to  earth,  what  preparation  of  soft  quilted  fabric,  of 
all  delicate  and  curiously- wrought  garments,  scented 
with  sweetest  perfumes,  is  made  for  the  little  pil 
grim  of  love !  But  what  is  all  this  to  the  expense 
and  lavish  outfit  of  earth,  the  cradle  of  man's 
infancy  ?  See  how  its  furniture  is  wrought.  One 
fragrant  bank,  could  he,  in  his  whole  lifetime,  pro 
duce  such  a  one,  would  render  an  artist  immortal. 

God  has  quilted  the  earth  with  beauty,  and 
combed  the  hair  of  ten  million  flowers  and  reeds 
over  its  verdant  banks.  No  emperor's  child  was 
ever  rocked  in  such  a  cradle. 

Does  the  mother  lavish  less  love  upon  her  child 
as  it  grows  in  stature  and  capacity  1  And  shall  God 
do  less  lovingly  than  those  whose  hearts  he  made 
and  filled  with  love  from  his  own  heart  ? 


186         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

SOME  men  think  of  God  as  of  one  sitting  like  a 
thunderstorm  in  the  sky.  They  know  that  there  is 
no  safety  but  in  going  to  him,  but  they  apprehend 
a  great  deal  of  danger  even  in  that. 

They  approach  him  under  an  umbrella  of  excuses, 
and  have,  here  and  there,  a  covert  under  which  to 
dodge,  if  they  think  a  bolt  is  coming.  They  forget 
who  Christ  meant  by  the  "  Father  "  of  the  prodigal 
Son  ;  and  they  lose  all  the  encouragement  that  he 
meant  for  repentant  sinners,  when  he  represented 
God  as  in  such  a  hurry  to  welcome  him  who  had 
returned  that  he  ran  to  meet  him  while  he  was  yet 
a  great  way  cff^  and  would  not  for  kisses  let  him 
tell  half  his  shame  and  sorrow.  Some  say  'tis  dan 
gerous  to  say  too  much  of  God's  love.  Men  take 
advantage  of  it,  and  become  universalists.  They 
say :  "  Preach  justice  for  bread  ;  let  mercy  be  cake." 


THE  Bible  is  the  centre  jewel  of  which  creation  is 
the  setting. 

WERE  the  office  of  deacon  rotary  in  all  churches, 
as  it  is  in  ours,  we  should  not  see  the  absurd  spec 
tacle  of  deacons  trying  to  turn  away  a  minister 
because  he  had  removed  deacons  who  deserved 
removal — thus  trying  to  make  the  higher  office  sub 
servient  to  the  lower. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PDLPIT.         187 

WHILE  I  heartily  despise  the  whole  crew  of  reli 
gionists — the  scribes,  pharisees,  and  learned  dunces, 
of  our  Saviour's  time,  who  saw  the  most  wonderful 
things  passing  about  them,  and  did  not  know  it,  I 
don't  want  to  be  caught  playing  the  same  fool's 
part,  in  respect  to  what  God  is  working  in  OUT  land 
and  times. 

I  want  to  praise  God,  and  take  part  in  helping  it 
along. 

THE  most  of  everything  is  that  which  is  unex 
pressed. 

"Words  are  but  little  bubbles  thrown  up  to 
express  what  lies  below,  forever  inexpressible. 


ECCLESIASTICISM  has  always  been  the  devil's  cloak 
under  which  to  work  evil. 


THE  great  nations  are  growling,  and  preparing  to 
dash  against  their  prey,  the  small  nations,  like 
wolves ;  lick  their  jaws  in  anticipation  of  the  feast 
which  is  at  hand.  The  whole  world  is  out  a  hunt 
ing — what  ?  Heathenism — and  they'll  catch  it,  and 
tear  it  in  pieces ;  for  I  think  that  not  by  civilization, 
but  by  revolution,  heathenism  is  to  be  destroyed. 
God  always  ploughs  before  he  sows. 


188         LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

THERE  is  not  a  street  in  Brooklyn  where  I  could 
not  point  you  out  heroic  women  before  whom  the 
chronicled  deeds  of  the  historic  dames  of  the 
ancient  world  would  blush  for  very  shame  of  their 
own  insignificance.  The  world  has  advanced. 
Heroic  deeds  have  become  so  common  that  they 
pass  unnoticed. 

WHEN  you  have  repented  of  your  wrong  and 
turned  from  it — no  matter  with  how  little  feeling, 
for  who  feels  enough  to  forsake  his  sin  feels  suffi 
ciently,  and  the  man  that  is  scourged  like  a  hound 
by  feeling  is  none  the  better  for  more  than  it  took 
to  turn  him — you  are  not  to  trouble  yourself  about  it 
any  more. 

God  forgets  your  sin  when  he  forgives  it.  So 
may,  so  ought  you. 

Great  sinners  who  have  offended  against  honesty 
and  purity,  when  they  are  converted,  sometimes  try 
to  keep  their  former  sins  up  before  them ;  lest,  una 
ware,  they  who  had  been  so  awfully  wicked,  should 
forget  it,  and  enjoy  themselves. 

They  check  every  pleasurable  emotion  by  the 
reflection  :  "  Ah  !  think,  think,  what  it  was  that  yon 
did.  You  are  not  worthy  to  laugh  and  be  glad." 

True ;  they  are  not  worthy.  E"or  is  any  one,  in 
and  of  himself;  but  I  care  not  what  their  sins  may 
have  been,  when  they  are  forgiven  of  God,  they 


LIVING    WOKDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         189 

sliould  be  cast  into   the   depths  of  the   sea,   and 
remembered  no  more  forever. 

The  man  that  keeps  tormenting  himself  by  the 
memory  of  repented  and  forsaken  sins,  is  a  fool — a 
fool !  To  repent  and  forsake  sin  is  sufficient,  when 
there  is  no  way  of  making  an  atonement ;  but  if 
there  is  a  way,  the  atonement  must  be  made,  or 
you  may  be  sure  that  your  repentance  is  a  sham, 
and  will  never  be  accepted. 


MEN  confess  everything  but  their  own  besetting 
sins.  They  steer  quite  clear  of  these.  Who  ever 
heard  a  man  say :  "  O  Lord !  I  am  as  proud  as 
Satan — humble  me;"  or,  "  O  Lord  !  I  am  so  mean 
and  stingy,  that  'tis  only  with  great  pain  that  I  can 
unclose  my  fists.  Make  me  generous." 


SUPPOSE  I  were  to  set  out  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  and  before  I  started  were  to  go  to 
Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  and  obtain  letters  of  credit 
for  the  cities  of  London,  Jericho,  etc.  Then,  with 
these  papers  which  a  child  might  destroy,  which 
would  be  but  ashes  in  the  teeth  of  flame,  which  a 
thousand  chances  might  take  from  me,  I  should  go 
on  with  confidence  and  cheer,  saying  to  myself, 
"  As  soon  as  I  come  to  London  I  shall  be  in  funds. 


190        LIVING    WOIiDS    FJBOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

I  have  a  letter  in  my  pocket  from  Brown  Brothers 
&  Co.,  which  will  give  me  five  hundred  dollars 
there  ;  and  in  the  other  cities  to  which  I  am  bound 
I  shall  find  similar  supplies,  all  at  my  command, 
through  the  agency  of  these  magic  papers  and  pen 
strokes  of  these  enterprising  men."  But,  suppose 
that  instead  of  this  confidence  I  were  to  sit  down  on 
shipboard,  and  go  to  tormenting  myself  in  this 
fashion :  "  JSTow,  what  am  I  to  do  when  I  get  to 
London  ?  I  have  no  money,  and  how  do  I  know 
that  these  bits  of  paper  which  I  have  with  me  mean 
anything,  or  will  amount  to  anything  ?  "What  shall 
I  do  ?  I  arn  afraid  I  shall  starve  in  the  strange 
city  to  which  I  am  going."  I  should  be  a  fool,  you 
say ;  but  should  I  be  half  the  fool  that  that  man  is 
who,  bearing  the  letters  of  credit  of  the  Eternal 
God,  yet  goes  fearing  all  his  way,  cast  down  and 
doubting  whether  he  shall  ever  get  safe  through  his 
journey?  JSTo  fire,  no  violence,  nor  any  chance, 
can  destroy  the  checks  of  the  Lord.  "When  he  says : 
"  I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee,"  and 
"  my  grace  shall  be  sufficient  for  thee,"  believe  it ; 
and  no  longer  dishonor  your  God  by  withholding 
from  him  the  confidence  which  you  freely  accord  to 
Brown  Brothers  &  Co. 


THE  elect  are  whosoever  will,  the  non-elect  are 
whosoeve.  won't. 


LIVING   WOKDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         191 

THE  years!  how  they  have  passed.  They  are 
gone  as  clouds  go,  on  a  summer  day.  They  came, 
they  grew,  they  rolled  full-orbed ;  they  waned,  they 
died,  and  their  story  is  told. 

Years  that  wrought  upon  us,  in  thought  and  deed, 
with  the  force  and  power  of  eternity ;  years,  whose 
marks  we  shall  carry  forever,  were  dissolved  like 
the  dew,  and  their  work  is  finished. 

And  the  days  have  gone.  With  a  gentle  swell 
comes  their  knell  backward  to  us,  over  the  ocean. 
Slipped  from  their  cables,  the  bright  days  glide  one 
by  one  away  from  us,  drifting  with  airy  speed  over 
the  shoreless  tide,  beating  faint,  sweet  measures  as 
they  recede  from  our  longing  view.  We  may  stand 
long  upon  the  shore,  and  call  them ;  but  they  will 
not  return  ;  they  are  ours  no  more. 

Awful  is  the  dirge  of  years.  It  is  an  anthem 
too  solemn  and  grand  for  tears ;  but  we  may  weep 
for  the  dying  days.  Faintly  as  they  sigh  to  us  of 
by-gone  hours,  of  moments  fragrant  with  all  human 
joys,  of  friends  and  familiars,  whose  smiles  at  morn 
ing  cheered  our  way,  but  whose  faces  at  evening 
were  covered ;  for  still  as  life  lengthens  the  shadows 
fall,  and  the  past  is  forever  gathering  treasures. 

The  hopes  that  are  born,  that  grow  ripe  and  die, 
float  out,  as  the  days,  on  the  ebbing  tide. 

Gorgeous  and  rich  are  the  shrines  in  many 
lands,  but  what  temple  was  ever  builded  as  some 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

days  are.  Marvellous  fancies,  deeds,  in  whose  do 
ing  the  heart  grows  strong,  thoughts  too  mighty  for 
words,  feelings  that  are  deeper  than  the  utmost 
depths  of  thought;  these  are  the  material  out  of 
which  days  are  built,  and  no  Yatican  or  cathedral 
walls  ever  blazed  with  such  glories  of  picture  as  are 
often  painted  on  single  days. 

As  they  move  softly  towards  the  far  horizon,  how 
do  our  hearts  follow,  with  yearning  love,  the  mo 
tions  of  the  parting  days !  We  would  hold  them 
back,  but  we  cannot,  and  in  the  golden  sunset  the 
bright  days  sink.  And  with  them  how  many  that 
we  loved  depart.  Loved !  nay,  love,  for  the  love 
remains  to  shine  on  the  memory  of  those  who  have 
left  us,  like  the  lamps  that  are  kept  burning  in 
sepulchres. 

Two  weeks  ago  I  told  you  that  three  thousand 
dollars  had  got  to  be  raised  to  pay  for  the  repairs 
of  this  house. 

The  plates  were  sent  round,  and  about  six  hun 
dred  dollars  were  raised. 

I  was  heartily  ashamed,  and  have  not  got  over 
it  yet.  Last  week  the  trustees  came,  and  asked  me 
if  I  would  name  the  matter  again,  and  I  said : 
"No,  I  will  not"  But  this  week,  upon  their  re 
newed  application,  I  have  consented  to  speak  once 
more.  If  this  don't  do,  you  may  pay  your  debt 


LIVING   WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         193 

how  you  can;  for  I  will  never  mention  it  again. 
I'm  not  going  to  be  a  pump  to  be  thrust  into  men's 
pockets  to  force  up  what  ought  to  come  up  freely. 

When  the  surgeon  comes  to  a  place  where  he 
must  cut,  he  had  better  cut.  For  more  than  a  year 
I've  seen  that  our  plate-collections  grew  meaner 
and  meaner.  I  didn't  want  to  face  you  with  such 
things  as  I've  got  to  say  to-day,  and  I  put  it  off  as 
long  as  I  could.  Now  I  shall  speak  plainly  once 
for  all,  not  having  the  face  to  bring  the  matter  up 
again.  This  debt  has  got  to  be  paid,  and  will  you 
meet  it  honorably,  and  pay  it  like  men,  or  will  you 
let  it  drip,  drip,  drip  out  of  you  reluctantly,  a  few 
dollars  at  a  time  ?  You  can  take  your  choice.  I'm 
not  going  to  try  to  drill  money  out  of  you  as  I  would 
drill  stones.  One  lecture-room  holds  about  three 
hundred  people,  and  we  collect  from  thirty  to  eighty 
dollars  there  every  time  we  pass  the  plate.  Our 
best  Christians  attend  the  weekly  meetings,  and 
they  are  always  the  most  generous.  In  this  con 
gregation,  that  numbers  over  three  thousand,  we 
don't  average  one  cent  per  head  in  our  collections. 

While  there  are,  thank  God,  many  of  his  poor 
among  us,  who  cannot  give  him  a  shilling  without 
making  a  difference  in  all  their  arrangements  for  a 
whole  week,  there  are  hundreds  of  men  here  who 
ought  to  be  ashamed  ever  to  give  anything  but 
gold,  or,  at  least  a  bill.  And  they  are  ashamed  to 

9 


194        LIVING   WOKDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

do  it.  Don't  they,  when  the  plate  approaches,  and 
they  have  put  their  fingers  in  their  pockets  and 
selected  a  quarter — the  smoothest  one  that  they  can 
find — use  admirable  tact  and  skill  in  conveying  it 
to  the  plate,  so  that  no  one  shall  see  what  they  give? 
Pious  souls!  they  don't  allow  their  left  hand  to 
know  what  their  right  hand  doeth.  If  they  have 
two  bills,  one  good,  one  broken,  they'll  generally 
give  the  broken  one  to  the  Lord.  The  amount  of 
meanness  among  respectable  people  is  appalling. 
One  needs  to  take  a  solar  microscope  in  order  to 
see  some  men.  I'm  willing  to  give  my  share,  to  do 
whatever  the  trustees  desire ;  I  shall  say  no  more. 


I  WOULD  not,  for  the  world,  bring  up  a  child  to 
have  that  horror  of  death  which  hung  over  my  own 
childhood. 

I  think  I  never  came  nearer  swooning  than  when 
I  heard  of  the  death  of  one  of  my  young  com 
panions.  I  walked  in  a  shadow  for  two  days, 
hardly  able  to  tell  whether  I  was  in  the  body  or 
out  of  it. 

The  thought  of  death  was  to  me  awful  beyond 
description.  The  toll  of  the  funeral  bell  would 
cheat  me  out  of  my  most  desired  meal.  To  rny 
imagination  its  stroke  was  thus  :  "  Death !  hell ! 
damnation !"  Our  children  should  be  taught  that 


LIVING    WOKD8   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        195 

a  funeral  is  the  nearest  place  to  heaven ;  instead  of 
which,  I  think,  they  oftener  feel  it  to  be  the  nearest 
place  there  is  on  earth  to  hell. 

I  do  not  say  what  death  should  be  to  the  impeni 
tent — it  is  a  pass  at  which  no  mistake  can  be  recti 
fied — let  all  beware  how  they  come  up  to  it ;  but 
I  say  this,  that  to  the  Christian,  and  to  the  little 
child,  it  is  the  best  and  most  joyful  thing  that  life 
leads  to — the  portal  into  everlasting  blessedness ; 
and  thus  it  should  always  be  represented. 

Tell  your  child  when,  after  long  imprisonment 
in  school,  he  one  day  hears  his  father  at  the  gate, 
come  to  take  him  home,  and  while  his  young  heart 
shakes  his  wholg  frame  in  nervous  ecstasy,  that  this 
is  like  what  dying  is,  but  not  half  as  much,  or  half 
as  joyful.  Death  is  vacation.  God  comes  to  take 
us  from  this  old,  rolling  academy,  a  good  school, 
but  a  hard  one,  and  bear  us  home  with  him.  Then, 
should  the  house  be  draped  with  signs  of  woe,  as  if 
it  were  plague-smitten  ? 


YOUNG  men,  you  come  here  to  get  good  advice  ; 
now  hear  it.  I  tell  you  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  so  profitable  as  are  lying  and  stealing — I 
should  not  like  to  drop  down  now,  before  I  finished 
this  sentence — so  profitable  in  the  beginning,  but 
so  sure  to  be  hit  by  God's  lightning  at  the  end. 


196        LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

You  can  gain  fast,  but  you  will  lose  fearfully  and 
rapidly. 

When  suspicion  begins  to  touch  you  the  end  is 
near. 

And  when  that  time  comes,  if  the  rocks  would 
fall  from  their  everlasting  beds  and  crush  you  and 
hide  you,  it  would  be  unutterable  mercy,  compared 
with  the  burden  of  shame  and  contempt  that  you 
must  bear. 

My  heart  is  towards  the  young  yet.  Only  when  I 
look  in  the  glass  and  see  how  the  grey  hairs  are  com 
ing  on  my  head,  do  I  know  that  I  am  growing  old. 
By  the  beating  of  my  heart  I  should  never  know  it. 
My  heart  is  towards  the  young  yet.  "Would  that  I 
could  warn  them  so  that  they  would  heed  ;  but  they 
hear  me,  and  they  will  go  away  and  remember 
naught.  They  will  follow  their  footsteps  who  are 
as  sure  to  topple  and  go  down  to  ruin  as  the  sun  is 
to  rise  and  shine. 

There  are  men  in  both  these  cities,  whose  names 
I  could  call,  on  whom  the  eyes  of  those  just  enter 
ing  the  work  of  life  are  fixed  for  imitation,  but 
whose  end  is  damnation. 

See  how  it  is  with  many  corrupt  public  men. 
One  lately  died  in  ISTew  England.  They  prosper 
for  a  time.  Then  sink  into  obscurity,  and  after  a 
while  there  is  a  little  paragraph  in  the  paper — 
"  Such  a  one  is  dead."  That  is  all  that  men  see. 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         197 

But  could  they  look  into  the  man,  and  see  his  men 
tal  history  for  his  last  few  years ;  could  they  see 
the  disappointed  hopes,  the  defeated  plans,  the  cha 
grins,  the  mortifications ;  see  all  the  vermin  that 
haunted  the  secret  chambers  of  that  abused  house ; 
the  evil  thoughts,  the  wicked  wishes  that  ran  in  and 
out,  like  rats  and  reptiles  in  old,  dilapidated  and 
gipsy-haunted    fortresses,  see   the   man    stranded, 
high  and  dry,  dropping,  dropping,  dropping ;  until 
at?  last  the  rotten  thing  sunk  entirely  and  fell  into 
utter  corruption,  and  the  papers  said,  "He  is  dead," 
they  would  not  be  so  eager  so  follow  his  steps,  nor 
to  dare  his  end.     A  snake  can  lap  itself  around  till 
it  inserts  its  tail  into  its  mouth  ;  if  I  had  power  to 
ring  life  thus,  and  make  its  ends  meet,  I  would  save 
many  ;  but  the  sweet  comes  first,  and  men  will  not 
believe  in  the  bitter  until  it  is  too  late. 

The  lad  tries  being  industrious  for  a  week,  and 
because  he  don't  see  immediate  good  results  he 
gives  up  the  effort.  He  tries  dishonesty,  and  the 
gain  is  in  his  hands  at  once ;  so  he  calls  evil,  good  ; 
forgetting  that  evil  is  always  ready  grown,  and 
yields  its  pleasant  fruit  at  once.  That's  the  best  he 
will  ever  have  from  it ;  afterwards  it  grows  worse 
and  worse  continually. 

Good  is  ungrown  and  imperfect  in  this  life,  and 
often  its  fruit  is  very  long  in  ripening.  Evil  is  the 
plump,  round  egg  ;  Good,  the  callow  and  unfledged 


198         LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

bird,  unshapely,   helpless,  and   that   cannot  even 
peep  with  any  strength. 

But  by  and  by  the  true  nature  of  each  will  ap 
pear.  Suppose  a  man  were  to  go  out  and  sow  rad 
ish  seed  and  acorns  at  the  same  time.  In  a  few 
weeks  he  goes  to  see  how  they  do. 

"  Oh!"  he  says,  "radishes  are  a  great  deal  better 
for  timber  than  oak  is.  Here  I  sowed  my  seed  a 
month  or  more  ago,  and  the  acorns  haven't  even 
sprouted,  while  the  radishes  are  as  big  as  my  wrist." 

You  plant  your  evil,  and  it  springs  up  like  rad 
ishes,  when  your  good  has  not  even  sprouted.  A 
man  says,  "I  told  the  truth  all  last  week,  even 
many  times  to  my  own  hurt,  and  I  got  into  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  by  it.  This  week  I've  told  lies  all 
the  week,  and  I  can  see  that  there  has  been  much 
advantage  to  me  in  it."  Nobody  thinks  indiscrimi 
nate  lying  would  be  good,  but  each  man  thinks 
that  if  everybody  else  would  speak  truth,  he  should, 
then,  be  a  great  gainer  by  lying. 

Often  it  does  look  to  us  as  it  looked  to  the  psalm 
ist  himself,  that  the  way  to  be  prosperous  and 
happy  is  to  be  bad,  and  the  way  to  be  miserable  is 
to  be  good.  But  the  truth  is  not  so. 


GOD  works  upon  man  by  means  of  all  events,  al] 
natural,  influences.  The  mere  naturalist  goes  abroad 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         199 

and  says,  "  Don't  tell  me  that  Fin  what  God  makes 
me.  I'm  what  my  parents  make  me,  what  natural 
law  makes  me,  what  social  influences  make  me. 
I'm  the  child  of  ten  thousand  different  influences." 
The  pious  dreamer  says,  "  I  am  fashioned  by  God ;" 
he  jumps  all  intervening  causes,  as  entirely  unwor 
thy  of  notice.  As  usual,  extremes  meet  in  a  com 
mon  blunder.  God  does  not  work  directly  on  man, 
save  in  exceptional  cases.  Where  a  man  was  born 
and  how  he  is  nurtured  and  taught,  make  him ;  but 
all  the  influences  that  play  upon  him  are  ordained 
of  God.  Man  is  as  an  instrument  of  music  whose 
key  board  is  so  broad  that  a  hundred  hands  may 
play  upon  it,  and  each  player  execute  different 
tunes.  Many  and  diverse  influences  operate  at 
once  upon  the  mind  of  man,  and  although  the  direc 
tion  in  which  he  was  set  at  his  birth  will  have 
something,  perhaps  much,  to  do  with  what  he  be 
comes,  his  native  tendencies  will  be  modified  by 
ten  thousand  circumstances.  The  natural  things 
which  touch  the  man  are  all  under  the  control  of 
the  Supernal  Power. 

CHILDREN  think  much  more  and  much  more 
deeply  than  we  are  aware,  upon  religious  subjects. 

I  remember  that  I  was  seriously  exercised  upon 
the  doctrines  of  election,  free-agency,  etc.,  by  the 
time  that  I  was  eight  years  old.  I  was  brought  up 


200        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

on  doctrine.     The  things  that  most  influence  child 
ren  are  acted  things ;  not  things  that  are  said. 

I  don't  remember  to  have  been  affected  by  any 
sermon  until  I  was  more  than  thirteen  years  old. 
But  the  prayer  and  talking  meetings  were  the  ones. 
I  used  to  be  convicted  there ;  and  I  would  go  about 
trying  to  be  "  pricked  in  the  heart."  I  had  got 
that  figure  and  so  tried  to  prick  myself.  I  wanted 
to  be  taken  up  by  some  resistless  wind  of  convic 
tion,  and  to  be  made  to  suffer  such  agonies  about 
my  sinful  state  as  I  had  heard  others  tell  of;  for  I 
thought  that  right  after  that  would  follow  conver 
sion,  and  I  should  be  safe. 

I  don't  think  fear  has  much  really  good  influence 
upon  children — a  powerful  influence  it  certainly 
does  have.  I  remember  once  we  children  were  all 
called  together  into  our  kitchen — which  we  thought 
the  best  room  in  the  house ;  its  windows  looked  out 
upon  trees  and  flowers,  and  its  door,  when  opened, 
revealed  the  long  line  of  road  along  which  we 
always  made  haste  to  run  as  soon  as  we  could  gain 
our  freedom.  We  were  called  into  the  kitchen  to 
be  talked  to  by  a  minister  who  was  staying  at  my 
father's.  He  told  us  how  wicked  boys  and  girls 
were  by  nature,  and  what  an  awful  end  was  before 
them  if  they  never  repented.  He  told  us  the  story 
of  one  wicked  boy  who  saw  the  devil  coming  after 
him.  The  idea  almost  froze  our  young  blood  with 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         201 

horror,  and  we  resolved  with  all  our  might  to  be 
good,  that  such  a  fate  might  not  befall  us.  But  as 
for  myself  I  don't  think  that  talk  ever  did  me  one 
particle  of  good ;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  I  never 
did  cut  up  so  bad  any  one  week  as  I  did  that  week, 
spite  of  all  my  efforts  to  stop  myself  by  thoughts 
of  that  dreadful  story,  and  of  how  I  should  feel  to 
see  the  devil  coming  up  the  road  after  me. 

I  remember  that  one  Sunday  morning,  as  soon  as 
I  awoke,  I  began  to  play,  picking  the  cotton  out  of 
the  quilt,  and  rolling  it  into  balls  to  throw  at  my 
brother.  Suddenly  came  the  thought  "  You  wicked 
boy !  to  begin  the  Sabbath  by  playing." 

At  once  I  was  condemned,  and  ducked  beneath 
the  bed-clothes  lest  something  dreadful  should  catch 
me.  There  I  lay  quietly  five  minutes,  as  long  as  I 
ever  kept  still. 

There  came  a  woman  to  live  with  us — Aunty 
Chandler  we  were  taught  to  call  her ;  she  became 
my  fast  friend,  and  used  to  beg  me  off  from  whip 
pings.  There  was  a  tree  whose  apples  used  to  get 
me  up  and  out  early  in  the  morning.  I  was  often 
whipped  for  stealing  them  ;  but  whippings  used  to 
make  me  very  brave.  One  morning,  just  as  I  was 
stealing  out  to  go  for  the  apples,  Aunty  Chandler 
stopped  me  :  "  Oh  !  Henry,"  she  said,  tears  rolling 
down  her  face,  "  I  cannot  bear  to  have  you 
whipped  so;  why  will  you  go  and  get  those  apples?" 

9* 


202         LIVING    WOEDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

This  was  a  new  idea.  It  had  never  struck  me 
that  Aunty  0.  got  the  whippings  on  her  heart. 
After  that  there  were  not  ropes  enough  in  old  Con 
necticut  to  draw  my  young  feet  to  that  tree. 

In  those  days  people  used  to  get  together  and 
pray  and  make  a  solemn  time  of  it  when  a  train  of 
emigrants  were  about  to  start  for  Ohio.  It  was 
almost  as  if  they  were  to  start  for  another  world. 
Well  do  I  remember  the  long  lines  of  white-covered 
wagons  that  used  to  wind  through  Litchfield,  and  I 
used  to  run  into  the  house  and  hide  under  the  table 
that  they  might  not  steal  and  carry  me  off.  Well, 
the  time  came  when  Aunty  Chandler  went  away  in 
one  of  those  slow-moving  trains.  I  shall  never  for 
get  it.  I  thought  I  was  near  the  end  of  my  gospel 
when  she  went.  Her  life  was  strong  in  its  good 
influence  upon  me.  Next  came  a  negro  servant. 
He  was  my  next  evangelist.  I  used  to  watch  him 
in  the  field,  and  in  the  house,  and  even  now,  with 
my  mature  reflection,  I  cannot  remember  ever  to 
have  seen  him  do  a  wrong  act.  As  I  worked  be 
side  him  in  the  field,  he  used  to  tell  me  his  expe 
rience,  and  where  he  learned  this  and  that  hymn  ; 
and  then  he  would  sing  as  only  the  African  can 
sing,  and  I  used  to  wish  that  I  could  have  such 
religion  as  that  negro  enjoyed.  When  we  went  to 
bed — he  and  I  slept  in  the  same  garret,  he  in  one 
corner  and  I  in  the  other ;  some  people  would  think 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         203 

it  a  dreadful  thing  to  have  to  share  a  garret  with  a 
negro — when  we  went  to  bed  he  used  to  pile  his 
pillows  up  behind  him  so  that  he  could  lie  sitting 
up,  take  his  hymn-book,  fasten  his  candle  up  some 
where  so  that  he  could  see,  and  commence  having 
a  regular  good  time.  He  would  sing  hymn  after 
hymn  with  such  relish  and  enjoyment,  the  big 
tears  frequently  rolling  down  his  dark  face,  that  1 
used  to  be  cut  to  the  heart  with  remorse,  that  I,  a 
minister's  son,  brought  up  with  every  advantage, 
should  be  so  much  worse  than  a  poor  negro.  I 
would  lie  there  and  pretend  to  be  asleep,  while  all 
the  time was  singing  right  at  rny  con 
science,  and  I  was  crying  heartily  to  hear  him. 
Oh !  how  glad  I  should  have  been  could  I  have 
changed  places  with  that  poor  negro  serving- 
man,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  cheating  him.  I  think 
that  lived,  acted  out  religion  does  more  good  to 
children  than  all  the  talking  that  can  be  done, 
though  talking  certainly  should  not  be  omitted. 
That  African  did  me  more  good  than  all  the  minis 
ters  that  ever  came  to  my  father's  house. 


THE  infidelity  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  has 
been  that  which  has  sought  to  emasculate  religion, 
by  separating  it  from  practical  life,  and  lifting  it  so 
far  above  everybody's  daily  and  familiar  use,  that 
they  might  as  well  be  without  it.  The  pretence  is, 


204:         LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

that  religion  is  too  sacred  to  be  rendered  useful  in 
common  matters.  Over  the  church  doors  men 
write :  "  Religion  is  religion ;"  and  over  the  store 
door:  "Business  is  business."  And  the  church  says 
to  business :  "  Don't  you  come  in  here ;"  and  the 
store  says  to  religion :  "  Don't  you  come  in  here" 

Man  rejects  the  interference  of  the  higher  law  in 
his  business  as  an  impertinence.  But  when  Sunday 
conies,  he  says :  u  We've  had  enough  of  business 
all  the  week  ;  now  let  us  have  the  blessed  Gospel." 

And  the  minister  must  confine  himself  to 
"  Christ  and  him  crucified."  He  mustn't  mention 
love  to  God  and  man  shown  in  business  transac 
tions,  for  he  must  preach  the  Gospel ;  he  mustn't 
exhort  to  temperance,  for  he  must  preach  the 
Gospel;  he  mustn't  preach  of  justice,  purity,  and 
humanity,  for  he  must  preach  the  Gospel. 

Why,  if  men  catch  "the  higher  law"  on  'change, 
or  in  the  street,  they  hoot  at  it,  they  chase  it.  they 
hit  it,  and  drive  it  from  among  them,  crying  out : 
"  Here  is  this  higher  law  escaped  out  of  the 
church,  and  out  of  the  Sunday." 


THE  worst  spectacle  which  this  country  now 
presents  is  not,  I  think,  the  governmental  or  politi 
cal  corruptions,  though  these  are  enormous ;  but  it 
is  that  of  a  religious  body,  like  the  one  in  New 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         205 

York,  utterly  refusing  to  open  its  month  against 
the  blackest  iniquity  of  the  age. 

And  for  what,  in  the  name  of  Heaven  ?  What 
reason  do  they  give  for  their  strange  silence? 
Why,  because  if  it  does  speak  against  this  sin  it 
will  not  be  allowed  to  preach  the  Gospel.  If  every 
sin  were  as  powerful  as  is  the  sin  of  slavery,  what 
would  these  preachers  of  the  Gospel  do?  Keep 
silence  in  regard  to  them  all,  of  course ;  for,  accord 
ing  to  their  views,  only  the  smaller  and  least  pow 
erful  sins  can  be  safely  hit. 

That  ponderous  body  can  bombard  men  bravely 
for  using  tobacco,  but  it  can't  say  one  word  against 
selling  men  and  women  to  raise  it.  It  can  spend 
itself  and  exert  its  tremendous  machinery  against 
the  awful  sin  of  the  dancing  of  young  men  and 
maidens ;  but  can't  utter  a  sound  when  maidens 
are  sold  to  prostitution,  and  young  men  are  driven 
off,  in  chain-gangs,  to  the  rice  swamps  of  Georgia. 

The  use  which  I  make  of  such  men,  is  to  point 
the  young  to  them,  and  say :  "  There  are  men 
whom  you  must  shun  to  resemble." 

The  worst  stamp  of  Phariseeism  was  not  in  our 
Saviour's  day.  It  has,  after  years  of  monstrous 
growth,  exhibited  itself  in  the  nineteenth  century. 


THE  Bible    sets    us   an    example   of  fashioning 
for  ourselves    a  personal  God   to   suit  our  need. 


206         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

"When  I  find  Paul  using  figures  to  represent  to 
himself  God,  as  his  wants  required  him,  I  know 
that  I  may  do  the  same  thing.  When  I  want  love, 
I  may  make  God  my  tender  and  loving  father,  or 
sister,  or  mother.  When  I  want  pity,  I  may  make 
him  a  being  of  unfailing  and  boundless  pity. 
When  I  want  courage,  he  is  my  lion ;  when  I 
want  light  and  cheer,  he  is  my  bright  and  morning 
star — my  God  alert,  my  sun,  my  bread,  my  wine. 
We  may  imagine  him  everything  that  is  to  us  good 
and  beautiful,  tender  and  true,  and  know  that  we 
are  not  cheating  ourselves  by  vain  fancies,  but  have 
only  touched  the  extreme  outer  edge  of  the  ever- 
blessed  reality.  There  may  be  dangers  in  this 
freedom  and  variety  of  our  representation  of  our 
God;  but  there  are  dangers  in  all  forms  of  our 
thought  of  him,  and  in  none  half  so  much  as  in 
having  no  realization  of  him  at  all,  in  considering 
him  as  an  abstraction  of  all  the  omnis..  Thinking 
of  him  thus,  none  can  ever  love  him,  or  walk  with 
him.  

THIS  everlasting  twaddle  of  infidelity  about  fixed 
natural  laws,  is  simple  foolishness. 

I  should  like  to  know,  now,  if  man  even  has  not 
as  much  power  over  natural  laws,  wherever  they 
touch  him,  as  natural  laws  have  over  him.  True, 
God  says  to  man,  in  one  place,  "  Obey ;"  but  in 
other  places,  he  says :  "  Command  !" 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         207 

Nature  can  work  roughly  and  coarsely  in  gene 
ralities  ;  but  she  needs  men's  intellect  and  will  to 
give  effect  to  what  she  does. 

Through  hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  she 
tried  her  hand  at  making  apples,  and  they  were 
but  crab-apples  at  last. 

Man  said,  "  I  will  help  you ;  and  by  his  industry 
and  wisdom,  the  sour,  miserable  fruit  soon  covered 
all  the  hills  with  luscious  apples. 

I  have*  power  over  nature's  laws  to  make  them 
work  for  my  own  and  my  children's  good.  I  can 
make  the  lightning  my  amanuensis  and  my  messen 
ger.  I  can  make  the  sun  himself  my  artist;  but 
when  did  ever  the  unassisted  sun  paint  a  picture? 
Man  whispers  to  him :  "  Come  down  here,  and  I 
will  tell  thee  something  that  thou  knowest  not," 
and  the  sun  obeys.  "Go through  there,"  says  man, 
and  the  sun  goes  through,  and  finds  himself  paint 
ing  pictures.  I  should  like  to  see  him  try  to  do  that 
alone.  I  can  say  to  the  sea,  "  Wait  on  my  will," 
and  it  obeys  me;  to  the  stream  :  "Thou  lazy  thing, 
flow  no  longer  down  hill,  but  up,"  and  it  flows  up. 
When  I  turn  it  into  a  machine,  I  say  to  the  water, 
"  Grind,"  and  it  grinds  my  food.  Natural  laws  are 
God's  horses,  and  he  says  to  man :  "  Vault,"  and  he 
who  can  ride  them  is  their  master.  By  working 
them  according  to  their  nature,  we  can  make  them 
to  do  a  million  things  that  they  could  never  do 


208         LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

without  us.  By  obeying,  we  command.  They  are 
the  blind  giants  which  our  will  and  wisdom  guide. 
Is  not  this  true?  Have  I  perplexed  you  with  meta 
physics  ?  Have  I  not  rather  showed  you  plain 
facts,  which  you  can  follow  out  to  almost  any 
extent  ? 

Remember,  the  question  between  me  and  the 
infidel  naturalist  is  not,  "  Does  God  disturb  natural 
laws  in  order  to  answer  the  prayers  of  his  people, 
or  does  he  do  violence  to  nature  that  he  may  do 
any  man  good  ?"  but  it  is  this :  "  Is  it,  or  is  it  not, 
likely  that  he  is  able  to  do  for  those  who  call  upon 
him  and  whom  he  loves  as  well  as  man  can  do  by 
means  of  natural  law  for  those  dear  to  himf"  In 
other  words,  "Is  it  likely  that  one  who  has  given 
to  his  creatures  such  wonderful  power  over  laws  of 
his  own  creating,  should  be  himself  so  bound  and 
hampered  by  them  that  there  should  be  with  him 
no  possibility  of  any  modification  of  their  working 
to  suit  circumstances?  The  idea  is  absurd,  and 
they  are  fools  who  indulge  it.  That  man  who  says 
and  believes  that  there  is  no  effect  on  God's  feel 
ings  and  actions  by  prayer,  is  not  a  Christian.  I'd 
rather  a  man  would  do  as  Martin  Luther  did — lay 
down  his  hand  on  a  promise  and  say  to  God, 
"  Now,  here  is  thy  word,  O  !  Lord  !  fulfill  it  to  me, 
or  I  never  will  believe  thee  again,  as  long  as  I 
live."  God  will  interfere  and  help  us,  no  matter 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         209 

what  laws  we  have  broken.  If  we  didn't  break 
laws  we  shouldn't  need  his  help  ;  because  we  have 
broken,  and  do  break  them,  he  does  help  all  who 
trust  in  him  and  even  most  of  those  that  don't. 
When  it  is  proved  that  praying  alters  nothing,  I 
will  say  of  the  Bible,  "  It  was  a  pleasant  book ;  but 
it  has  passed." 

Not  all  prayers  are  answered.  When  you  ask 
for  what  would  take  away  motive  for  exertion ; 
when  you  ask  for  what  you  do  not  really  need,  or 
for  what  would  hurt  you,  you  will  not,  probably, 
get  what  you  desire. 

But  when  a  man,  out  of  his  deep  want,  goes  to 
God  for  a  good  gift  which  he  is  powerless  to  gain 
for  himself,  he  shall  have  it.  This  is  the  seal. 
God  is  more  willing  to  give  good  gifts  unto  them 
that  ask  him,  than  parents  are  to  give  good  gifts 
unto  their  children.  Do  you  believe  that  f 


I  DO  not  fear  science ;  I  love  it.  I  do  not  look 
with  jealous  eye  upon  it  lest  it  cut  off  some  of  my 
ground.  I  accept  all  truth,  when  it  is  proved,  no 
matter  where  it  carries  me ;  but  I  don't  accept 
what  every  man  calls  truth,  any  more  than  I  be 
lieve  the  tale  of  every  beggar  that  comes  to  my 
door. 

Infidels  are  working  for  God,  though  they  do  not 


210         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

know  it.  They  shake  and  rend  his  truths  until 
they  think  that  they  have  destroyed  them,  but 
they  have  only  cleared  them  of  the  shuck.  I 
think  infidels  are  like  swine  that,  going  into  a  corn 
field  tear  down  the  mighty  grass,  and  crunch  its 
leaves  and  ears,  trampling  into  the  earth  all  that 
they  cannot  eat.  Then,  they  go  out  thinking  that 
they  have  devoured  or  buried  all  the  corn.  Yes, 
they  have  buried  it  for  resurrection ;  for  from  its 
grave  it  shall  rise  in  tenfold  glory,  to  wave  all  the 
more  luxuriantly  for  that  husbandry  of  hoof  and 
snout.  So  is  it  with  infidel  swine  in  the  corn 
field  of  God's  Word. 


WHOEVER  has  been  enabled  to  take  hold  upon 
another's  interest  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  him 
self  >  for  the  time  being,  for  that  other,  and  to  feel 
that  his  friend's  life  is  dearer  than  his  own,  has  at 
tained  to  one  of  the  purest  and  highest  states  into 
which  man  on  earth  ever  comes.  And  he  should 
understand  that  a  very  high  experience  has  been 
granted  him. 

To  be  lifted  above  temptations  ;  never  to  have  a 
wrong  thought,  or  a  wrong  moving  of  the  affections, 
is  a  very  good  thing,  but  it  is  not  being  so  Christ- 
like  as  he  is  who  bears  upon  his  soul  another's 
life — who  suffers  for  him,  yearns  for  him,  would 
give  his  life  to  do  him  good.  This  is  the  very 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         211 

spirit  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  if  we  suffer  with  him  we 
shall  also  reign  with  him.  And  we  must  suffer 
with  him,  if  we  would  reign  with  him.  But  now, 
the  other  truth  which  meets  this.  We  have  no 
business  to  be  so  linked  with  any  other  human 
being  as  that  their  destination  shall  be  ours.  All 
suffering  more  than  that  which  makes  us  ready  to 
do  all  in  our  power  for  their  good,  we  must  fight 
against.  It  can  do  only  harm.  We  must  have  our 
best  and  dearest  friends  to  know  that  our  peace  in 
God  cannot  be  destroyed.  Not  husband  or  wife, 
brother  nor  sister,  nor  friend  has  any  right  to  cause 
rust  and  canker  to  enter  our  souls  for  them.  Who 
shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  ?  We  must 
do  all  we  can,  and  do  it  in  a  cheerful,  winning 
way,  so  as  not  to  repel  and  torment  them,  thus  hin 
dering  the  very  thing  we  would  hasten.  But  when 
we  have  done  all  we  must  wait  God's  time.  This 
is  what  all  those  injunctions  to  patience  mean. 
But  there  is  another  thought,  "  What  if  our  friends 
should  die  ?"  You  have  no  right  to  meddle  with 
that,  nor  to  try  to  settle  the  state  of  any  one  who 
does  die.  And,  beside,  do  yon  not  know  that  this 
necessity  of  seeing  men  go  unprepared  to  death, 
was  what  the  apostles,  the  prophets,  yes,  and 
Christ  himself  was  obliged  to  look  upon  and  bear  ? 
But  remember,  God's  pity  is  for  the  time  of  trouble 
and  distress.  He  is  your  tower — run  into  it,  and 


212         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

be  safe.  I  would  not  give  two  cents  for  a  faith 
that  wouldn't  help  me  while  I  need  help.  Christ 
has  offered  to  bear  my  burdens,  and  Tie  shall  have 
them.  Here  are  my  trials,  temptations,  and  woes, 
not  in  heaven,  and  here  is  where  I  have  most  need 
of  my  Saviour. 

No  man  is  born  into  the  full  Christian  charac 
ter,  any  more  than  he  is  born  into  the  character 
of  a  man  when  he  comes  into  the  world.  A  man 
at  conversion  is  in  the  state  of  one  who  has  just 
come  into  possession  of  an  old  homestead.  He  has 
the  title  and  he  can  make  for  himself  a  beautiful 
home.  But  the  dust,  the  dirt,  and  the  cobwebs 
of  years  choke  all  the  rooms,  and  must  be  cleared 
away.  Many  sills  and  beams  are  rotten  and  must 
be  replaced  by  new  ones.  Chambers  must  be  re 
fitted,  walls  newly  plastered,  the  whole  roof  must 
be  searched  over,  and  every  leak  stopped.  There 
must  be  a  thorough  cleansing  and  repair  before  the 
mansion  is  habitable ;  and  when  all  this  is  done 
'tis  only  an  empty  house  that  the  man  has. 

•The  same  kind  of  thing  that  a  man  is,  who  has 
trained  himself  into  freedom  from  wrong,  without 
having  become  faithful  in  right  deeds. 

Now  for  a  man's  house  he  may  buy  carpets  ready 
made ;  but  there  is  no  loom  that  will  weave  car 
pets  for  his  heart,  except  the  loom  that  is  in  him- 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         213 

self.  Furniture,  beds,  chairs,  and  tables,  he  may 
buy  for  his  house,  but  rest  and  peace  for  his  soul 
can  only  be  worked  out  within  his  soul,  and  long 
labor  it  often  proves.  He  may  purchase  paintings, 
whose  voiceless  language  shall  make  eloquent  his 
walls,  and  statues  to  grace  niche  and  pedestal,  and 
books  to  till  his  many  shelves,  but  the  painter,  the 
sculptor  and  the  publisher  for  the  man's  mental 
house  are  all  in  his  own  heart. 


are  all  painting  pictures  in  the  dark.  Oh ! 
this  painting  in  the  dark !  what  is  to  be  revealed 
when  the  light  corneth  ?  It  is  fearful. 


I  THINK  that  persons  who  are  sincerely  resolved 
to  fashion  themselves  upon  the  pattern  of  Christ, 
but  who  can  see  no  marks  upon,  or  in  themselves 
of  their  own  success,  are  like  artists  painting  in  the 
dark,  beautiful  pictures  which  shall  astonish  them 
with  their  loveliness  when  the  morning  shines  upon 
their  work.  Or,  they  are  like  flowers,  talking  to 
gether  in  the  night,  and  saying:  "We  are  not 
beautiful  as  we  desire  to  be."  They  wished  to  be 
arrayed  in  gay  colors,  and  to  have  jewels  of  dew 
upon  their  buds  and  leaves ;  but  they  answer 
mournfully  to  each  other's  questionings  :  "  It  is  all 


214        LIVING    WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT 

darkness  upon  you;  nothing  can  be  seen."  Then 
they  hold  up  their  heads,  and  stretch  out  their 
leaves;  but  a  weight  oppresses  them,  and  again 
they  droop,  complaining  that  no  brightness  or 
beauty  is  given  them.  But  all  the  while  the  night 
is  distilling  its  gentle  moisture  on  those  uncon 
scious  flowers,  and  the  very  jewels  for  which  they 
murmur  and  sigh,  are  gathering  thickly  on  every 
leaf  and  stem.  They  are  bathed  in  the  dew  of 
freshness  and  fragrance,  and  crowned  with  the 
most  radiant  gems.  And  by  and  by,  the  morn 
ing  breaks,  and  the  moment  that  the  glorious  sun 
rolls  above  the  horizon,  and  floods,  with  his  slant 
beams,  the  world,  ten  million  flowers  glisten  and 
glow  with  jewels  of  such  lustre  as  was  never  known 
in  diamond  from  Golconda's  mines,  nor  in  any  pre 
cious  stone  on  monarch's  brow. 


PERIODICAL  excitements  are  normal  to  the  hu 
man  constitution.  Our  very  life  stands  on  this 
foundation.  Sixteen  hours'  excitement  and  eight 
hours'  stupor — sleep. 

There  is  in  the  human  soul  "  a  common  feeling," 
which,  being  roused  and  stimulated,  renders  it  pos 
sible  for  men  to  do  in  one  hour  the  ordinary  work 
of  ten.  It  is  somewhere  said,  "  God  never  works 
by  periodical  fits."  But  I  can  hardly  think  of  an 
instance  in  which  he  works  otherwise. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         215 

A  man  has  a  right  to  stimulate  himself,  for  right 
purposes,  in  his  lower,  intermediate,  and  higher 
nature.  It  is  needful  that  he  should  do  so.  All  men 
recognize  this  need  in  regard  to  business,  politics, 
social  life — but  if  needful  here,  where  the  senses 
and  even  selfishness  has  so  much  influence,  how 
much  more  needful  when  we  rise  into  the  realm  of 
moral  and  spiritual  things  !  Revivals  of  religion 
are  in  strict  accordance  with  natural  law.  They 
are  not  to  supersede  the  regular,  calm,  organized 
action  of  the  church,  but  to  work  with  all  this,  as 
an  occasional,  especial  power.  Men  are  energized" 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  made  able  to  work  rapidly. 
But  when  the  excitement  is  worn  out,  let  it  go. 
Don't  try  to  keep  it  up  unnaturally,  or  by  effort. 
All  strong  feeling  must  rest  quick. 

To  men  who  object  to  this  intensifying  a  work, 
or  to  repenting  in  a  hurry  and  under  excitement,  it 
may  be  said,  "  See  to  it,  then,  that  you  take  the  first 
calm  moments  when  the  reaction  arrives  to  become 
a  Christian,  or  you  will  prove  that  these  objections 
of  yours  are  all  mere  excuses  to  escape  conver 
sion." 

"When  men  have  a  great  stone  to  move,  they  first 
dig  away  all  the  earth  around  it,  working  moder 
ately  and  taking  care  to  reserve  their  strength. 
When  the  earth  is  removed,  they  apply  their  lever, 
and  now  all  take  hold.  At  the  word,  "Now 


216         LIVING    WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

heave,  men,  heave  !"  each  man  strains  with  nerve 
and  sinew — he  throws  his  whole  strength  into  that 
moment's  effort,  and  the  stone  is  forced  from  its 
bed. 

Now  what  if  some  man,  just  as  the  final  effort 
were  about  to  be  made  were  to  cry  out,  "  Stop,  men, 
stop !  Have  you  reflected  well  on  what  you  are 
about  to  do  ?  Have  you  thought  whether  you  will 
be  able  to  keep  on  working  all  day  at  the  rate  you 
will  work  while  upheaving  that  stone  ?" 

What  better  than  this  is  he  who  objects  to  being 
lifted  up  upon  the  spring  tide  of  a  revival,  because 
he  is  afraid  he  cannot  always  afterwards  live  up  to 
that  mark. 

He  is  not  required  to  live  so.  It  is  not  possible. 
His  feelings  should  always  be  deep  like  the  sea ; 
but  they  should  not  always  roll  and  swell  like  the 
sea's  agitated  waves. 

There  are  seasons  in  which  the  social  and  the 
moral  feelings  should  thus  move  and  mount,  and  at 
such  times  becoming  a  Christian  is  much  easier 
work  than  at  others  ;  and  although  there  are  many 
very  good  Christians  born  when  all  is  calm,  and 
there  is  no  religious  excitement  about  them,  yet  1 
like  a  revival-born  Christian  best ;  for  he  is  apt  to 
be  more  open-hearted  and  of  more  use. 

Some  say  revivals  cause  a  great  deal  of  self- 
deception — quick  conversions  are  not  apt  to  be 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         217 

thorough.     This  might  be  a  sensible  remark  among: 

o  o  o 

heathens  who  do  not  know  the  first  principles  of 
the  Gospel ;  but  in  communities  like  ours,  where 
from  the  ver^  cradle  men  are  taught  all  the  head 
knowledge  that  they  need,  and  where  the  question 
is  simply  one  of  the  will,  "  Will  you  submit  to 
the  rule  of  Christ,  renouncing  the  ways  of  wicked 
ness,  or  will  you  not  ?"  it's  a  mere  quibble  of  unbe 
lief.  The  New  Testament  pauses  not  a  moment 
over  such  miserable  arguments.  "  Repent  and  be 
lieve  now"  is  its  doctrine,  and  three  thousand  souls 
were  added  to  the  church  in  one  day.  The  Lord 
recognized  the  fact  that  many  tares  would  be 
gathered  in  with  the  wheat ;  but  he  never,  on  that 
account,  sanctioned  people  to  wait  to  ~be  soundly 
converted.  "  Let  both  grow  together  till  the  har 
vest,"  is  his  command. 

This  doctrine  of  delay,  of  shunning  excitement 
upon  a  subject  which  ought  always  to  excite  men 
more  than  anything  else  can,  and  which  ought  to 
cause  them  to  be  in  the  greatest  possible  haste,  is  a 
delusion  and  trap  of  the  devil,  in  which  he  has 
caught  thousands  of  souls. 


STRUGGLING  and  distressed  Christian,  when  we 
meet  in  heaven  where  will  be  that  heart-break  that 
you  told  me  of  ? 

10 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PDLPIT. 

Will  you  not  look  me  in  the  eyes  and  laugh  to 
think  you  told  me  that  your  heart  was  breaking  ? 


FKOM  my  window  I  saw,  after  the  last  dreadful 
storm,  a  ship  struggling  into  port.  Her  sides  were 
all  chafed  and  scarified,  as  if  she  had  been  beset 
by  the  robber  waves  and  forced  to  battle  for  her 
life.  Her  mast  was  broken,  her  sails  draggled  and 
torn.  Her  spars  and  yards  were  gone,  and  she 
looked  almost  a  wreck. 

Out  on  the  sea  the  waves  had  risen  against  her, 
and  all  the  thievish  winds  had  sought  to  do  her 
harm.  A  desperate  time  she  had  indeed  of  it, 
but  she  had  made  her  port ;  and  now,  as  she 
dropped  her  anchor  and  lay  securely  in  her  moor 
ings,  her  hull  sound,  her  cargo  all  safe,  her  crew 
alive  and  well,  what  to  her  was  it  that  she  had 
been  obliged  to  fight  her  way,  or  that  out  at  sea 
the  waves  and  winds  were  even  yet  raging  and 
mad  with  storms  ?  She  had  gained  her  harbor  ; 
she  had  made  a  prosperous  voyage.  The  end 
for  which  she  was  sent  forth  she  had  accomplished 
— not  the  less  nobly  that  through  storm  and  tem 
pest  she  had  held  upon  her  way. 

But  what  was  it  to  the  ship  John  Milton,  when 
she  was  floating,  piece  by  piece,  upon  the  waves — 
when  her  cargo  was  all  sunken,  and  her  crew  all 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         210 

drowned  and  lying  on  the  beach,  or  in  the  sea — 
that  all  the  first  part  of  her  voyage  had  been  plea 
sant,  that  all  the  middle  of  it  had  been  over  smooth 
and  sunny  seas,  that  she  had  passed  in  safety  all  the 
islands,  and  sailed  prosperously  over  the  equator  ? 
Her  voyage  was  a  failure,  for  she  never  entered 
port.  The  end — the  end  stamps  a  career  as  success 
ful  or  disastrous ;  and  the  John  Milton  did  not 
answer  the  end  for  which  she  was  sent  forth. 

Men  are  as  ships  sent  forth  upon  the  sea,  and 
that  man  who  gains  the  port  of  heaven,  though  he 
be  more  battered  and  bruised  than  any  ship  that 
ever  sailed  up  yonder  river  to  its  anchorage,  he 
is  the  successful  man  ;  but  he  who  founders  on  the 
beach,  no  matter  how  close  it  be  to  the  open  gates 
of  heaven,  has  made  a  bad  voyage,  though  his  log 
book  may  tell  of  sunshine  and  fair  winds  all  the  way 
to  the  shoal  whereon  he  struck  and  found  destruction. 


GOD'S  glory  is  his  goodness.  This,  by  his  own 
showing. 

THE  ship  of  morality  draws  too  much  water  ever 
to  ride  into  the  harbor  of  salvation.  ISfo  one  ever 
was  or  ever  will  be  able  to  enter  with  her.  Her 
keel  always  reaches  too  far  down.  A  lighter  craft 
must  be  obtained,  or  you  will  be  forever  outside  of 
moorings. 


220         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

IN  man's  natural  state,  he  inhabits  only  the 
ground  floor  of  his  soul's  dwelling — the  apartments 
which  look  out  upon  the  back  yard,  where  is  accu 
mulated  all  the  filth  and  garbage  of  the  household. 
The  upper  apartments  are  all  fastened  up  and 
injured  from  disuse. 

When  a  man  has  deliberately  and  understand- 
ingly  resolved  to  turn  from  all  his  evil  ways  and 
devote  himself  heart  and  soul  to  the  service  of 
God,  he  is  converted.  There  has  been  too  much 
fog  and  darkness  thrown  about  this  simple  matter 
of  conversion.  The  whole  difference  in  the  state 
of  a  justified  man  and  a  man  under  condemnation 
is,  that  one  uses  himself  first  for  God  and  his  fellow 
creatures,  and  the  other  uses  himself  first  for  him 
self,  and  second  only  (if  at  all)  for  God  and  his 
fellows.  There  are  multitudes  of  men  who  would 
like  to  be  Christians,  if  they  only  knew  how ;  but 
they  are  waiting  to  be  struck  by  some  mysterious 
and  romantic  flash,  which  will  never  come.  If 
they  feel  like  praising  and  loving  now,  let  them  do 
it ;  there  is  no  danger  of  its  being  wrong.  Many 
wish  to  be  able  to  "begin  their  Christian  course  with 
joy  and  triumph.  Let  them  begin,  even  if  it  be 
in  darkness  and  doubt.  The  joy  and  triumph  will 
await  them  at  the  other  end. 

If  I  had  only  had  somebody  to  tell  me  the  things 
that  I  now  tell  you,  how  much  trouble  I  should 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        221 

have  escaped !  I  used  to  sing  hymns  from  the  out 
side,  just  as  hungry  boys,  who  have  no  pennies, 
look  in  at  bake-shops,  through  the  windows. 

"Ah !"  I  used  to  think,  smelling  the  hymns,  "I, 
too,  could  enjoy  them,  just  as  all  these  Christians 
do ;  but  they  are  not  for  me.  I  am  not  a  Christ 
ian."  Now,  I  say,  if  there  is  any  one  in  this  lec 
ture-room,  who  is  holding  his  heart  back  from 
feelings  that  he  thinks  should  belong  only  to  Christ 
ians,  unhand  yourselves ;  give  your  heart  its  will ; 
let  it  rise,  exult,  love  and  praise.  God  is  working 
in  you.  To  check  these  feelings,  or  to  hide  them, 
is  to  smother  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  is  no  reason 
why  any  soul  before  me  this  hour  should  not  resolve 
to  take  Jesus  Christ  for  his  Lord  and  love,  and  rise 
up  from  his  seat  a  converted  man.  There  is  no  need 
to  go  days  and  weeks  under  conviction  of  sin.  It 
is  no  credit  to  a  man  to  have  a  terrible  time  being 
converted.  It  is  a  mean  business.  Suppose  that 
I  had  lied  to  my  partner  in  business.  Suppose  he 
were  to  charge  it  upon  me,  and  I  were  to  try  to 
evade  the  matter,  and  were  to  oblige  him  to  chase 
me  through  a  whole  week,  crowding  me  here,  pok 
ing  me  there,  and  pressing  me  in  every  possible  way 
to  own  my  fault ;  until  at  last  he  cornered  me  so 
closely,  that  seeing  escape  to  be  impossible,  I  gave  in, 
and  said,  "Well,  I  have  lied,  and  I  am  sorry;"  just 
because  I  could  not  help  yielding.  How  mean  a 


222         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

spirit  should  I  thus  show.  How  much  better,  if 
upon  sudden  press  of  temptation  I  had  sinned,  for 
me  to  stop  at  once  when  the  lie  was  charged  upon 
me,  and  say  honestly,  blushing  crimson  with  shame, 
"Yes,  yes,  I  am  wrong,  all  wrong.  I  am  sorry, 
and  will  do  so  no  more." 

Why  will  not  men,  when  they  see  their  guilt  and 
danger,  face  right  about  and  make  short  work  with 
themselves  ? 


MIRTH  is  the  sweet  wine  of  human  life.  It  should 
be  offered  sparkling  with  zestful  life  unto  God.  He 
desires  no  emasculated  or  murdered  offerings. 


THAT  which  is  wickedness  per  se  in  man  would 
be  infinitely  worse  in  God. 


CHRISTIANS  all  ought  to  reflect  the  character  of 
Christ.  But  the  young  Christian  says  :  "  It  cannot 
be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  really  in  me,  or  I 
should  be  more  like  brother  so  and  so.  He,  now, 
seems  a  good  deal  like  Christ,  but  who  ever  would 
guess  what  Christ  was  like,  if  he  judged  by  me  ?  I 
wish  my  experiences  were  like  that  good  brother's." 
"Now  suppose  the  flowers  in  a  garden  were  to  say  : 
"  Since  the  rose  is  the  queen  of  flowers,  she  should 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        223 

be  our  example ;  we  should  all  bud,  and  leaf,  and 
blossom,  just  as  the  rose  does,  if  we  wish  to  do  it 
right." 

But  you  say :  "  The  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
should  be  the  same,  should  it  not  ?  Is  it  ever  the 
same  ?  Does  God  allow  any  two  men  ever  to  per 
form  the  same  radical  acts  in  the  same  manner  ? 
Does  he  not  seem  to  abhor  sameness  ?  Your 
Christian  graces  must  be  such  as  consist  with  your 
original  nature,  the  character  and  disposition  which 
God  implanted  in  you  at  your  birth.  Your  expe 
riences  will  be  such  as  consist  with  your  education 
and  circumstances  ;  they  will  be  unlike  those  of  any 
other  person.  And  you  must  not  be  discouraged 
because  they  do  not  now  shine  as  do  the  graces  of 
the  older  Christian ;  nor  think  your  graces  are 
worthless  because  they  are  yet  unpolished.  The 
negro  slave  in  Brazil,  when  he  works  the  diamond 
mines,  is  allowed  his  freedom  when  he  finds  an  unu 
sually  large  diamond. 

A  poor  slave  who  has  never  seen  any  diamonds 
but  those  that  are  worn  upon  the  breast  of  his  mas 
ter  and  his  master's  mistress  and  friends,  is  sent  to 
the  mines.  Working  away  there,  he  picks  up  a 
large  stone  which  looks  as  if  it  might  be  a  diamond, 
if  it  was  only  bright ;  but  the  negro  don't  know 
what  to  think  of  it.  He  says  it  can't  be  a  diamond ; 
but  a  companion  thinks  that  it  is  one.  The  slave 


224        LIVING-   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

takes  it  to  his  master,  who  seizes  it  with  exclama 
tions,  and  declares  to  the  slave  :  "  You  are  a  free 
man.  There  never  before  was  such  a  diamond 
found  in  these  mines  I" 

"  What !  massa  I"  says  the  trembling  slave,  in 
great  trepidation  and  bewilderment  of  joy ;  for  bad 
as  freedom  is  for  negroes,  it  always  excites  in  them 
powerful  emotions  of  pleasure.  "  What,  massa  ? 
dat  dull  stone  a  diamond?  It  don't  look  nothing 
like  what  massa  wear  in  his  shirt  bosom." 

"  But,  don't  you  know,  Sambo,  that  diamonds 
have  always  to  be  taken  to  the  lapidary,  and 
ground  and  polished,  sometimes  for  two  or  three 
years,  before  they  are  ready  to  wear  ?  This  is  a 
most  valuable  diamond ;  and  you  are,  from  this  very 
moment,  a  free  man." 

There  are  diamonds  in  the  rough  among  you  ; 
but  you  will  be  ground  and  polished  in  good  time. 
The  Lapidary  has  you  in  hand. 


THERE  are  men  who  hold  themselves  aloof  and 
look  askance  on  this  mighty  revival.*  They  see  men 
hurrying  along  at  noon  towards  the  various  prayer- 
meetings,  and  they  say  :  "  It's  a  fever  which  must 
have  its  way,  and  then  it  will  subside."  They  see  a 
young  man  going  to  the  meeting,  and  think  it  no 
thing  to  excite  interest.  They  do  not  know  that  that 

*  The  great  revival  of  1857-8. 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        225 

young  man  had  come  up  to  a  point  where,  if 
nothing  had  occurred  to  save  him,  he  would  have 
been  bound  over  to  destruction  at  the  very  next 
step.  They  do  not  see,  in  some  far  distant  village, 
the  mother  or  the  sister  praying  and  weeping  for 
him — no  sound  of  a  father's  groan  is  heard — none 
of  these  things — the  petitions  that  for  years  have 
assailed  the  heavens,  both  day  and  night,  do  not 
cling  about  the  youth  as  he  walks  the  street ; 
but  that  prayer-meeting  God  made  to  answer  the 
desire  of  the  parents,  and  to  bring  salvation  to  the 
son.  And,  eternity  will  show  that  the  young  man's 
walking  towards  that  place  of  prayer  was  the  begin 
ning  of  his  march  to  heaven. 


I  WOULD  rather  be  reckoned  with  the  lowest  and 
meanest  children  of  God,  than  take  rank  with  the 
crowned  kings  of  the  earth.  I  am  sorry  that  all 
Christians  don't  live  so  as  to  glorify  their  heavenly 
Father ;  but  even  as  they  are,  I  would  rather  clasp 
in  my  embrace  the  most  imperfect  one  who  really 
is  born  of  God,  than  to  link  hands  with  monarchs. 
Where  is  the  man  (there  are  creatures  by  courtesy 
called  men  who  are  ashamed  of  their  old-fashioned 
parents,  or  of  their  country  relatives  when  they 
meet  them  in  the  city  streets — it  would  take  a  regi 
ment  of  these  miscreants  to  make  a  decent-sized 

10* 


226         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

hair  for  the  head  of  a  genuine  man)  who  would 
not  rush  from  the  presence  and  communion  of 
princes,  if  he  saw  on  some  forlorn  and  ragged  little 
child  in  the  street,  the  lineaments  of  his  father  or 
his  mother,  and  knew  that  the  wanderer  was  his 
own  brother?  Do  you  think  that  man  would  not 

»/ 

choose  the  ragged  child  to  a  dozen  princes  ?  And 
in  the  Christian's  face  I  ever  see  the  lineaments 
of  my  beloved  Father — God. 


A  REVIVAL  is  as  when  a  sportsman  goes  out  with 
his  gun,  and  sends  its  charge  into  a  flock  of  pigeons. 
Some  fall  dead  at  once,  and  he  sees  and  secures 
them  ;  but  others,  sorely  hurt,  limp  off  and  hide,  to 
die  among  the  bushes.  The  best  part  of  this*  revival 
is,  that  while*  you  can  only  see  those  who  are  shot 
dead  and  fall  down  before  you,  there  are,  thank 
God !  thousands  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  being  hit 
and  wounded,  to  go  off  unnoticed  to  their  own 
homes,  and  God  heals  them  there. 


You  will  bear  me  witness  that  two  years  ago, 
when  we  were  right  in  the  midst  of  the  great 
political  excitement  of  1856,  I  said  once  and 
again,  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  intone  the 

*  The  great  revival  of  1857-8. 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         227 

American  public  so  with  the  sentiment  that  Christ 
ianity  must  enter  into  and  rule  in  politics  as  truly 

X 

and  entirely  as  elsewhere,  without  laying  the  foun 
dations  for  a  revival  of  religion  as  broad  as  the 
whole  land.  The  seed  then  sown  is  now  ripening. 


I  THINK,  when  men  sincerely  try  to  work  for  God 
and  souls,  they  are  as  men  who  go  out  to  sow  seed 
in  a  windy  day.  A  few,  very  few  may  drop  where 
they  think  that  they  sow  all ;  and  when  they  go  to 
seek  for  fruit,  lo !  there  is  but  a  handful,  and  the 
men  are  disappointed  and  grieved.  But  their  seed 
is  growing  in  other  fields,  by  the  wayside,  on  the 
mountains,  in  the  forest,  everywhere ;  and  at  the 
end  they  shall  be  astonished  to  behold  their  har 
vest. 


say  to  men,  are  you  willing  to  serve  Christ, 
and  to  love  him  ?  They  answer  readily — "  Yes,  we 
are ;  but  we  want  to  be  converted"  By  this  they 
mean  that  they  want  to  have  all  that  blessedness  of 
sensation  that  they  have  heard  about ;  they  want  to 
find  that  every  tendency  and  aptitude  to  sin  is  cut 
up  by  the  roots.  They  want  to  be  converted  so 
that  they'll  never  have  anything  more  to  do  but  to 
feel  the  joy  of  salvation.  They  want  God  to  do  all 
their  fighting  for  them,  and  that  is  what  he  never 


228         LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

will  do.  "When  a  man  is  converted,  he  is  set  right, 
armed  for  conflict,  and  ordered  to  go  on  through  his 
enemies,  until  he  reaches  heaven.  He  often  must 
have  hard  and  bitter  times  in  his  struggles  with 
himself;  but  God's  grace  will  be  his  stay  and  con 
solation,  and  at  the  other  end  he  will  find  what  he 
is  too  apt  to  look  for  at  this. 


I  HAVE  hope,  I  have  courage.  Our  churches  are 
certainly  purifying  themselves;  they  are  coming 
up  to  a  higher  type  of  religion.  That  John  Baptist 
work  before  our  last  election  prepared  the  way,  and 
we  are  going  forward.  A  speech  like  that  just 
made  in  this  meeting,  *  twenty  years  ago  would 
have  blown  it  up  like  a  bombshell ;  now  I  don't 
think  that  we  have  even  lost  grace  or  good  nature 
through  it.  God  used  to  walk  by  inches ;  now  he 
goes  by  seven-league  strides. 


THIS  one  thing  I  have  noticed  in  everybody — the 
moment  they  come  to  a  clear  apprehension  of  the 
love  of  Christ,  they  turn  right  about  upon  the  min 
ister,  or  upon  the  Christians  who  have  been  labor 
ing,  perhaps  for  years,  to  bring  them  to  that  very 

*  By  a  well-known  anti-slavery  man. 


LIVING    WORDS   FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         229 

point,  and  say,  "Why  didn't  you  tell  us  this  be 
fore  ?" 

Why,  it's  what  we've  been  always  telling  them. 
I  think  that  trying  to  point  a  man  to  the  love  of 
Jesus  is  like  trying  to  show  one  a  star  that  has  just 
come  out,  the  only  star  in  the  whole  cloudy  sky. 

"  I  can  see  no  star,"  says  the  man.  "  Where  is 
it?" 

"  Why,  there  ;  don't  you  see  ?" 

But  the  man  shakes  his  head ;  he  can  see  no 
thing.  But  by  and  by,  after  long  looking,  he 
catches  sight  of  the  star ;  and  now  he  can  see 
nothing  else  for  gazing  at  it.  He  wonders  that  he 
had  not  seen  it  before. 

Just  so  it  is  with  the  soul  that  is  gazing  after  the 
star  of  Bethlehem.  Nothing  in  the  world  seems  so 
hidden,  so  complex,  so  perplexing,  as  this  thing, 
until  it  is  once  seen  by  the  heart,  and  then,  oh ! 
there  never  was  anything  that  ever  was  thought  of 
that  is  so  clear,  so  simple,  so  transcendently  glo 
rious.  And  men  marvel  that  the  whole  world  does 
not  see  and  feel  as  they  do. 


I  THINK  that  I  am  a  man-of-war,  and  every  gun 
in  me  is  a  fifty-four-pounder;  and  when  circum 
stances  call  for  the  grace  of  indignation,  I  can  bear 
my  part ;  but  wrath  is  not  so  good  as  love. 


230         LIVING    WOKDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

THE  everlasting  God,  who  sitteth  at  the  head  and 
top  of  universal  dominion,  makes  himself  the  ser 
vant  of  the  very  least  and  lowest  of  his  creatures. 
Should  we,  then,  be  too  proud  to  help  each  other  ? 
Should  we  scorn  to  lend  our  help,  or  influence,  or 
sympathy,  to  the  least  among  our  brothers  ?  How 
despicable  must  such  a  disposition  in  us  look  to 
God. 


THERE  is  nothing  of  which  men  know  less  than 
of  themselves.  They  do  not  understand  how  their 
own  characters  are  formed  ;  they  stand  in  great 
doubt  as  to  their  own  moral  states  before  God. 
They  cannot  judge  or  take  account  of  themselves, 
much  less  of  their  fellows.  It  is  a  great  comfort  to 
know  that  there  is  One  who  perfectly  knows  all 
that  is  in  us,  and  all  that  concerns  us  ;  and  who  will 
take  us  for  just  our  real  worth.  It  is  a  comfort  to 
trust  in  God.  Oh !  when  a  little  child  is  weary, 
marching  through  a  desert  towards  his  home,  when 
he  feels  that  he  has  no  longer  strength  to  travel, 
nor  wisdom  to  direct  his  way,  how  glad  is  he  to 
have  his  father  take  him  in  his  arms  to  rest  him. 
And  when  the  child,  just  before  falling  asleep, 
raises  his  eyes  for  one  more  glance  at  the  face  above 
him,  and  sees  it  firm  and  calm  and  set  for  home, 
how  sweetly  he  resigns  himself  to  slumber,  confi 
dent  that  all  is  well.  And  thus  do  we,  in  the 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         231 

weary  march  through  life,  sometimes  love  to  recline 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  Eternal  Traveller,  and  take 
our  hour  of  rest  confiding  in  our  God. 


THERE  are  men  in  this  congregation  who  are  in 
the  situation  of  undermined  towers  of  a  beleaguered 
city.  I  have  seen  the  enemy  hollowing  them  out 
at  the  foundations,  I  have  seen  the  kegs  of  gun 
powder  rolled  in,  and  the  train  laid,  and  now  I  see 
the  enemy  hiding  just  behind  his  covert,  with  his 
slow  match  in  his  hand,  waiting  for  the  word  to  fire 
the  train.  I  have  warned  the  fated  men,  but  they 
will  not  heed  me.  I  cannot  even  pray  for  them 
any  more  ;  but  I  live  in  daily  expectation  of  the 
explosion  ;  1  wait  the  hour  which  shall  blow  them 
to  destruction  ;  for  I  know,  almost  as  though  it  were 
already  passed,  that  their  doom  is  sealed. 

Now  if  any  of  you  before  me  tremble,  and  think, 
despairingly,  "  It  is  I,"  probably  it  is  not  you. 
The  anxious  and  troubled  ones  are  not  those  who 
are  given  over  to  ruin. 


WE  are  all  so  imperfect,  that  when  we  really 
consider  of  our  case,  remembering  that  God  sees  us 
as  if  by  candles,  into  the  very  darkest  parts  of  our 
selves,  we  wonder  how  he  can  love  even  the  best  of 
us.  All  men  believe  that  God  exercises  a  general 


232         LIVING    WOEDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

benevolence  towards  men  ;  but  that  his  feelings  to 
wards  them  amount  to  actual  love — yearning,  ten 
der,  desiring  love,  and  that  in  regard  to  the  most 
wicked,  the  prowling  thief,  the  vile  lecher,  the  lost 
and  desperate — even  the  murderer.  This  is  what 
staggers  us.  That  he  loves  not  only  his  elect,  who 
strive  to  serve  him,  but  wretches,  just  because  it  is 
in  his  own  disposition  to  love  what  needs  love,  is 
our  God's  chief  glory.  That  he  has  something  in 
his  pure  and  holy  nature  which  causes  him  to  love 
sinners,  while  he  abhors  their  sins,  is  Gospel  teach 
ing.  Herein  lies  our  hope  and  our  salvation,  for  it 
was  while  we  were  yet  at  enmity  with  God  that  he 
sent  his  Son  to  die  for  us. 


A  PIKATE  cannot  be  pardoned  for  his  piracy 
because  he  is  generous,  and  in  most  respects  a 
moral  fellow.  He  is  out  on  the  high  seas  as  a 
pirate,  and  is  game  for  hemp  and  gallows,  though 
he  read  his  Bible  every  day,  and  do  a  thousand 
kind  and  good  actions  every  week.  But  if  he 
repent  of  his  ways,  and  try  to  become  an  honest 
seaman,  a  few  forgetful  oaths  may  oe  forgiven  him. 
If  he  is  sailing  right,  and  with  right  intentions,  he 
will  not  be  strictly  dealt  with,  though  he  do  knock 
down  a  man  now  and  then  when  he  ought  not. 

o 

So   a  man   who   has  not  accepted  Christ  as  his 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         233 

Saviour,  who  is  using  himself  just  as  God  did  not 
intend  that  he  should  be  used,  need  not  hope  that 
his  occasional  good  and  generous  deeds  can  do  him 
any  service  in  the  matter  of  salvation.  A  man 
who  has  given  himself  to  Christ  can  be  forgiven 
and  helped  anew,  if  he  halt  and  stumble,  because 
his  face  is  set  in  the  right  way,  and  his  heart's 
desire  is  that  he  may  attain  unto  a  perfect  obedi 
ence.  His  sins  will  be  each  day  pardoned  by  the 
mercy  of  him  to  whom  he  looks  for  all  of  this  life, 
and  that  which  is  to  come. 


THERE  are  no  troubles  which  have  such  a  wast 
ing  and  disastrous  effect  upon  the  mind,  as  those 
which  must  not  be  told  ;  but  which  cause  the  mind 
to  be  continually  rolling  and  turning  over  upon 
itself,  in  ceaseless  convolutions  and  unrest. 

THERE  are  a  thousand  things  which  between  the 
right  persons  are  pure,  but  which  are  so  sacred  and 
delicate  that  the  merest  touch  from  the  world  can 
not  be  given  without  causing  the  utmost  pain. 
One  who  would  go  eavesdropping  to  catch  the  con 
fidences  of  parent  and  child,  husband  and  wife,  or 
lover  and  lover,  and  would  then,  to  the  distress 
and  confusion  of  those  concerned,  report  what  he 
had  heard,  is  a  scoundrel. 


23 J:         LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.       » 

THE  common  way  of  representing  God  as  being 
very  anxious  for  and  jealous  of  his  own  glory,  has 
a  bad  influence  on  the  minds  of  men  until  they 
justly  understand  what  his  glory  is.  We  are  not 
left  in  doubt  as  to  that.  Moses  prayed  and  said, 
"  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory."  And  the 
Lord  passed  by,  proclaiming,  not  might,  majesty, 
and  dominion,  not  omnipotence,  nor  any  awful  at 
tribute,  but,  "The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful 
and  gracious,  long  suffering  and  abundant  in  good 
ness  and  truth."  These  are  the  things  in  which 
God  places  his  glory ;  and  this  is  the  glory  which 
man  is  called  upon  to  promote,  and  which  God  is 
bent  upon  preserving. 


THE  old-fashioned  lightning-rods  were  made  all 
in  one ;  and  when  they  drew  the  bolt  it  came  with 
mighty  force,  and  the  crash  often  did  much  damage; 
but  now  the  old  plan  is  improved,  and  by  having 
many  points  to  the  rod  the  lightning  is  scattered,  and 
made  to  strike  with  greatly  divided  and  dimin 
ished  force,  and  to  sink  harmlessly  to  the  earth. 
If  conviction  were  to  strike  the  sinner  as  lightning 
strikes  the  first  sort  of  rod,  the  man  could  no  more 
live  than  he  could  were  he  to  look  into  the  face  of 
God.  But  through  the  mercy  of  Jesus  Christ,  it 
strikes  only  point  by  point,  a  separated  and  en- 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        235 

feebled  force.  There  is  no  need,  in  most  cases,  that 
it  should  be  otherwise.  More  feeling  than  is 
needed  to  produce  right  action  is  unnecessary. 
God  be  thanked  that  we  are  not  allowed  to  see  all 
the  plague  of  our  own  hearts  ! 


THERE  is  no  mercy  nor  pardon  for  any  man  who 
does  not  feel  himself  utterly  helpless  and  lost.  A 
hopeless  sinner  is  the  only  one  who  has  reason  to 
hope  for  forgiveness.  If  a  man  comes  to  Christ 
asking  only  a  little  help,  thinking  that  he  can  patch 
himself  up  with  that,  without  the  humiliating  con 
fession  of  utter  unworthiness,  he  will  get  nothing. 

THERE  are  materials  enough  in  every  man's  mind 
to  create  a  hell  there. 


WHEN  my  head,  that  is  worth  so  little,  aches,  I 
feel  it  to  be  unspeakable  relief  that  I  may  lay  it 
upon  his  breast  whose  head  is  worth  so  much. 
God's  head  never  aches.  He  does  not  have  to 
study.  He  sees — sees  the  naked  soul  of  every 
creature.  When  the  apostle  says  to  the  Jews  that 
the  word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful,  etc.,  he 
brings  to  their  mind  the  idea  of  the  priest's  exam 
ination  of  the  sacrificial  victims.  The  Hebrew 
priests  not  only  examined  each  animal  externally, 


236         LIVING   WOKDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

but  they  also  took  the  beast  and  split  him  open  at 
the  back  bone,  and  made  a  minute  investigation 
into  his  internal  state,  before  he  was  offered.  This 
habit  was  the  foundation  of  the  form  of  expression 
in  the  verse  ;  *  and  then  the  apostle  goes  on  to  say, 
that  before  God  every  creature  is  laid  open,  as  the 
sacrificial  beast  was  before  the  priest.  The  argu 
ment  which  he  draws  in  these  verses  seems  at  a 
first  view  to  be  a  strange  one;  but  the  apostle 
always  speaks  from  depths  which  the  world  knows 
not  how  to  sound.  God's  perfect  knowledge  of  us, 
of  all  our  countless  interlacing  thoughts,  of  the 
checkered  play  of  all  our  passions,  of  all  our  acts 
and  motives,  of  the  very  darkest  and  foulest  pits 
and  crevices  down  to  the  very  bottom  of  our  souls. 
The  idea  of  his  escapeless  gaze,  why  it  seems  terri 
ble,  if  we  think  of  him  only  from  the  standpoint 
of  our  sins ;  but  when  we  begin  to  consider  his 
perfect  love,  and  his  perfect  honor,  that  he  has 
known  us  from  everlasting,  even  as  he  knows 
us  now,  and  that  he  is  never  surprised  (as  we  are 
ourselves)  at  anything  we  do,  but  has  sworn  to  give 
us  everlasting  life,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  un 
righteousness,  if  we  only  trust  to  him,  we  can  begin 
to  understand  that,  because  he  knows  us,  we  may 
come  boldly  to  his  footstool  for  help  in  every  time  of 
trouble.  I  think  it  is  not  safe  or  best  for  us  to  give 

*  Heb.  iv.  12  et  seq. 


LIVING    WORDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         237 

unreserved  confidence  to  any  Tinman  friend,  how 
ever  dear,  for  none  are  always  altogether  noble  and 
unselfish,  none  that  will  not  in  some  way,  or  at 
some  time,  abuse  such  confidence.  The  power  of 
hiding  ourselves  from  each  other  is  most  mercifully 
given,  for  men  are  wild  beasts,  and  they  would 
devour  and  destroy  each  other  but  for  this  protec 
tion.  But  into  the  ear  of  God  we  may  pour  out 
each  secret — our  very  self,  and  the  confidence  will 
be  kept  sacred.  He  invites  our  confidence,  not 
because  he  does  not  already  know  all  that  we  can 
tell  him,  but  for  our  own  sake  he  bids  us  pour  out 
our  souls  to  him,  and  he  will,  in  return  for  our  con 
fidences,  give  us  pity  and  consolation  ;  for  he  can 
be  touched  with  a  feeling  for  our  infirmities. 


WE  look  on  men,  and  judge  them ;  but  it  is  not 
right — we  see  but  the  outward  appearance.  I  meet 
a  man  with  a  face  so  hard  and  grim,  and  an  eye  so 
cold,  that  I  thank  God  that  I  do  not  live  with  that 
man.  But  if  I  could  see  the  path  by  which  he  has 
come  up  to  where  he  now  is — if  I  could  see  how  he 
leaned  with  all  the  weight  of  a  once  generous  and 
confiding  heart,  on  what  failed  him  in  time  of  need 
— if  I  could  see  how  he  has  been  stood  from  under, 
and  been  pierced  and  bored,  and  the  very  life-blood 
of  his  affections  pressed  out  -by  a  thousand  troubles 


238         LIVING    WOKDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

and  crosses,  and  perhaps  by  the  infernal  machi 
nery  of  the  household,  I  should  feel  more  like 
throwing  my  arms  about  him,  and  trying  to  console 
him  for  all  that  had  made  him  what  he  is. 

"Whatever  there  is  in  election  and  reprobation — 
and  I  don't  know  what  there  is  in  them,  therefore 
I  never  preach  them,  for  I  will  not  preach  what  I 
cannot  at  all  understand — there  certainly  is  nothing 
that  hinders  any  man  from  gaming  salvation. 
When  /undertake  to  preach  election,  I  turn  to  the 
last  chapter  of  the  Bible,  and  read :  "  And  the 
Spirit  and  the  Bride  say  come,"  etc.  It  is  the  last 
utterance  of  the  sacred  volume,  and  it  is  sincere. 
If  I  doubted  God's  perfect  sincerity  and  simplicity, 
in  such  invitations,  I  should  say  that  those  who 
worshipped  him  were  the  sinners,  and  those  who 
refused  to  pay  him*  homage  were  the  saints.  I 
think  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  are  like  flowers 
that  are  in  the  morning  all  covered  with  spiders' 
webs.  They  are  obscured  and  mystified  by  mis 
creant  theological  spiders.  There  is  nothing  so 
simple  that  these  men  will  not  change  it  into  a 
mystery,  which  they  themselves,  nor  any  who  hear 
or  study  them,  shall  be  able  to  understand. 


A  MAN  who  impoverishes  his  soul  for  the  sake  of 
worldly  gain,  is  like  one  who,  desiring  to  learn  to 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         239 

play  upon  a  harp,  tears  out  all  its  strings,  where 
with  to  pay  for  his  tuition.  He  gains  gold,  per 
haps,  but  when  it  is  his,  he  has  left  to  him  no  capa 
city  to  enjoy  it. 

PERFECTION  has  usually  been  understood  to  mean 
absence  of  evil,  but  it  does  not  mean  that  any  more 
th^ln  absence  of  weeds  means  harvest. 

The  Bible  measure  of  perfection  is  the  measure 
of  the  fullness  of  the  stature  of  Jesus  Christ.  This 
ought  long  ago  to  have  settled  the  much  vexed 
question  of  Christian  perfection.  Until  a  man  can 
measure  himself  by  Christ,  and  come  up  to  his 
stature,  he  must  not  claim  to  be  perfect,  and  he 
will  not  arrive  at  that  fullness  in  this  world.  Con 
version  is  not  instant  deliverance  from  all  wrong 
tendencies,  from  all  errors  and  follies,  nor  even 
from  all  sins.  It  is  but  the  beginning  of  a  good 
character. 

There  mav  be  instances  where  men  are  converted 

«/ 

into  a  very  high  state  of  righteousness  at  the  out 
set  ;  but  I  know  that  this  is  rarely  the  case.  Gene 
rally,  the  young  convert  is  but  set  about,  and  has 
his  way  to  cut  through  ten  thousand  native  heart- 
born  foes.  There  are  his  passions  and  his  appetites 
that  for  many  years  have  had  their  own  head 
long  will ;  and  there  are  all  the  selfish  instincts ; 
there  is  rampant  pride  to  be  subjugated,  and  the 


240         LIVING    WORDS   FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

work  is  long  and  hard.  But  every  man  is  encou 
raged  to  work  hopefully  by  the  command :  "  Work 
out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling ; 
for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure."  Let  no  hard, 
fault-finding  man  of  the  world  look  upon  the 
Christian  when  he  fails  or  falls,  and  say,  "  He  is 
no  Christian  else  he  would  do  better  than  that." 
He  will  often  fall  and  fail ;  but  he  must  always  rise 
again,  and  with  renewed  courage  and  faith  go  for 
ward  working  out  his  own  salvation.  He  never 
need  despair,  for  God  worketh  in  him,  and  that  is 
strength  enough  for  anything. 

There  are  some  men  who  have  not  much  native 
strength  or  stability  of  character,  and  though  while 
they  are  out  of  the  way  of  trial  they  walk  well, 
when  they  are  among  the  every-day  influences  of 
life,  they  are  drawn  far  from  what  they  know  to  be 
right.  Here  in  church,  where  there  is  prayer  and 
singing,  they  feel  all  right,  and  are  sure  that  they 
are  very  near  to  heaven  ;  they  are  inspired  by  the 
spirit  of  the  place,  and  feel  melted  with  love  and 
devotion.  But  to-morrow  they  go  over  to  New 
York.  They  don't  hear  many  hymns  there.  Reli 
gion  is  not  much  the  subject  of  conversation  and 
consideration  over  there  ;  it  is  all  sharpness,  shrewd 
ness,  warding  off,  grasping  stocks,  money-market, 
etc. ;  and  the  man  goes  with  the  hurrying,  hasty 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         24:1 

tide.  Selfishness,  duplicity,  greed,  are  about  him 
and  within  him,  and  so  he  wanders  from  the  way 
and  does  a  hundred  wrong  things.  But  by  and 
by  is  his  meeting  evening ;  and  among  his  church 
brethren  the  wavering  man  sits  down  to  hear  of 
Jesus  and  of  duty,  and  of  the  experiences  of 
others.  The  same  nature  that  caused  him  to  go  so 
wrong  when  among  those  whose  influence  was 
wrong,  now  draws  him  another  way.  A  brother 
rises  and  gives  utterance  to  some  touching  thought, 
the  man  is  broken  down  at  once;  tears  stream 
down  his  cheeks,  his  heart  swells,  he  must  rise  and 
speak — he  sings  with  his  brethren,  and  his  face 
shines  with  inward  happiness.  He  feels  very  good 
again ;  and,  for  the  time,  he  is  as  sincere  as  any 
thing  can  be;  but  the  world  looks  on  and  cries, 
"  Look  at  him !  he  is  an  old  knave  and  hypocrite." 
He  is  no  more  a  hypocrite  than  a  thermometer  is. 
It  may  indeed  be  that  he  is  not  a  Christian.  He 
whose  feet  are  upon  the  Kock  of  Ages  should  stand 
more  firmly  than  this ;  but  he  is  sincere. 


THERE  are  many  Christians  who  in  their  affec 
tions  are  thoroughly  submissive.  When  they  suffer 
there  they  grow  more  sweet  and  humble — their 
trials  make  them  better.  Though  their  affections 
are  deep  and  tender  they  bow  before  God  when  he 

11 


242        LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

touches  their  hearts  in  them,  and  they  say  and  feel 
that  he  does  all  things  well,  and  that  he  is  blessed ; 
but  you  take  these  same  men  and  trouble  them  in 
their  business,  and  where  is  their  Christian  submis 
sion  then? — apparently  they  are  no  better  than 
infidels.  They  have  not  educated  themselves  to 
yield  their  wills  to  the  will  of  God  in  their  business 
affairs ;  afflictions  there  cause  them,  as  it  seems,  to 
grow  worse  and  worse  all  the  time. 


AT  first  it  is  sufficient  that  the  Christian  believes 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel  because  they  are  in  the 
Bible,  given  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

When  first  the  traveller  follows  the  direction  of 
the  guide-board,  he  does  so  because  it  says  that  is 
the  way  to  go ;  but  when  he  has  gone  that  way 
once,  and  again,  and  finds  that  it  always  ends 
just  where  he  intended  to  stop,  he  looks  at  the 
guide-board  no  more.  He  has  forgotten  it,  for  he 
does  not  need  it  now.  He  believes  in  the  road,  be 
cause  he  knows  by  experience  that  it  will  lead  him 
whither  he  desires  to  go. 

Thus  should  the  Christian,  of  ten  or  a  score  of 
years,  believe  in  the  vital  truths  of  religion,  not 
alono  because  Christ  declares  them,  but  because 
he  has  felt  and  known  them  in  his  own  heart  and 
life.  Faith  is  first,  but  afterwards  is  actual  know 
ledge — we  do  "  know  of  the  doctrine." 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         243 

MANY  persons  have  read  the  Bible  so  much  that 
to  them  it  has  come  to  have  very  little  practical 
force  or  meaning.  A  man  will  read  aloud  the  pas 
sage  on  "  charity,"  or  "  love,"  as  it  should  be  ren 
dered,  and  not  an  echo  of  its  meaning  will  be  in  his 
heart.  He  will  read  it  reverently,  as  he  thinks  a 
Christian  man  should,  and  will  then  arise  and  begin 
straightway  to  be  NOT  "  long  suffering"  nor  "  kind;" 
not  to  bear  all  things,  believe  all  things,  or  hope  all 
things  ;  not  to  think  no  evil ;  but  to  be  "  easily  pro 
voked,"  and  to  behave  unseemly,  without  one  pass 
ing  thought  that  what  he  has  just  read  should  have 
aught  to  do  with  his  daily  life  among  his  associates. 
This  scripture  is  thus  a  dead  letter. 


IF  you  desire  a  new  church  which  will  accommo 
date  six  thousand  people,  if  you  will  raise  the  full 
amount  required  for  its  erection  and  furnishing,  I 
will  engage  to  speak  in  it  so  that  all  shall  hear  me. 
I  will  do  my  part  in  the  contribution  also ;  but  I 
tell  you  beforehand,  that  I  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  building  a  church,  or  with  preaching  in  it,  of 
which,  when  it  is  finished,  even  the  poorest  work 
man  can  truly  say,  as  he  stands  and  looks  upon  it, 
"  I  lost  by  that  job." 

If  you  will  have  such  a  building  for  me  to  preach 
in,  no  man,  from  the  largest  contractor  down  to 


244:        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

the  poorest  laborer  that  carries  a  hod,  must  be 
able  to  say  that  he  lost  a  single  penny  by  the  enter 
prise.  Money  sufficient  to  pay  to  each  man  what 
is  just  and  right  must  be  raised,  or  the  matter  must 
be  dropped  quicker  than  it  was  taken  up.  As  to 
my  being  able  to  speak  so  as  to  be  heard  in  any 
part  of  such  a  building  as  you  contemplate,  I  should 
think  you  might  be  satisfied  of  that  by  the  way  in 
which  I  am  speaking  now. 


MEN  are  agreed  in  this,  that  all  do  glory  in  some 
thing.  Each  one  glories  according  to  his  society. 
The  honesty  and  gentleness,  the  truth  and  guileless- 
heartedness,  which  are  the  glory  of  the  true  gentle 
man,  would  render  a  man  the  mark  for  scorn  and 
contempt  among  burglars,  and  gamblers,  and  alder 
men,  and  other  thieves. 


WE  are  not  to  try  to  crush  out  any  quality.  If 
we  put  a  ball  through  the  head  of  a  wild  young 
horse,  he  will  be  made  quiet  and  harmless  enough ; 
but  he  will  be  good  for  nothing.  The  right  way  is 
to  break  him,  and  harness  him  ;  then  he  will  be  fit 
for  use.  Just  so  it  is  with  the  faculties  of  a  man's 
mind.  They  all  need  breaking,  harnessing,  and 
right  directing;  but  they  must  not  be  killed  or 


LIVING   WOKDS   FBOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        245 

maimed.  That  faculty  whose  perversion  becomes 
pride  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  he  has  given  directions 
for  its  proper  action.  "  Let  him  that  glorieth  glory 
in  this,  that  he  understandeth  and  knoweth  me." 
To  "glory"  means  to  value  one's  self;  to  feel  self- 
complacency,  because  of  some  real  or  fancied  supe 
riority.  But  we  are  forbidden  to  glory  in  anything 
except  in  our  knowledge  of  God. 

How  far  do  men  come  from  obedience  to  this  in 
junction  !  They  glory  in  everything  hut  that. 
One  walks  the  streets  with  such  an  air  that  you 
would  say  he  supposes  that  God  had  fashioned 
a  very  masterpiece  when  he  fashioned  him — yet 
no ;  it  is  not  even  his  body  that  he  so  much  glories 
in,  as  in  the  things  which  he  has  stuck  on  to  it. 
He  glories  in  his  dress,  and  in  his  perfumes. 
Another  glories  in  his  muscular  form,  in  his  fine 
proportions,  and  in  his  strength.  He  goes  through 
the  streets  almost  wishing  that  some  one  would 
come  at  him  that  he  might  display  his  power  of 
self-defence.  The  pride  of  these  men  lies  in  the 
things  which  they  possess  in  common  with  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  But  others  glory  in  their  riches 
and  their  skill  ;  others  again  in  their  genius. 
These  things  are  not  to  be  despised.  Even  riches 
God  reckons  as  good ;  for  they  are  among  the  re 
wards  promised  to  those  who  diligently  serve  him. 
Beauty  and  attractiveness  of  person,  and  the  pos- 


246         LIVING    WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

session  of  winning  manners  have  this  much  in  them : 
they  are  the  gift  of  God;  they  give  pleasure  to 
others,  and  ought  to  do  so  to  their  owners.  They 
should  be  a  cause  of  gratitude,  but  never  of  "  glory 
ing."  It  is  a  sort  of  organic  affectation  with  some  to 
pretend  to  despise  personal  symmetry  and  beauty. 

Wealth,  in  the  economy  of  Providence  is  made  a 
powerful  means  of  civilization,  and  it  is  right  to. 
value  it,  in  its  place.  It  is  good,  sometimes  it  is 
even  grand,  to  know  how  to  fill  the  day  with 
profitable  transactions,  to  make  every  movement 
tell  for  the  advancement  of  some  one  enterprise ; 
but  men  should  not  glory  in  their  business  or  exe 
cutive  force  of  skill,  or  in  their  sharp  foresighted- 
ness.  They  should  glory  in  this  that  they  under 
stand  and  know  the  Lord. 

Perhaps  there  may  be  men  now  before  me  who 
are  saying:  "I  have  valued  myself  all  wrong — 
God  help  me — I  will  try  to  benefit  by  this  dis 
course  ;"  and  perhaps  some  man  will  go  home  and 
make  a  note  in  his  journal  to  the  effect  that  his 
heart  was  touched,  and  he  resolved  to  do  differ 
ently  for  the  future.  Monday  morning  he  will  rise, 
and  as  he  starts  for  the  city  he  will  say  to  himself: 
"  Now,  remember."  As  he  walks  towards  the  ferry, 
a  quick  step  sounds  behind  him,  and  a  laughing 
voice  says,  as  he  gets  a  friendly  slap  on  the  shoul 
der  :  "  Ah !  ah  I  but  that  was  a  capital  hit  of  yours 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         24:7 

— that  mortgage,  you  know — I've  heard  all  about 
it.  But  didn't  you  trip  that  fellow's  heels  up  well  ? 
I  declare  ;  it  was  capital." 

"No!  you  didn't  hear  about  it,  though,  did 
you!"  ' 

The  man  is  instantly  as  full  of  vain  glory  as 
champagne  is  full  of  bubbles.  Sunday  and  its  im 
pressions  are  forgotten  ;  the  week  is  here  ;  his  good 
resolves  are  gone — where  the  bubbles  go.  That 
one  compliment  in  regard  to  an  act  of  wicked 
shrewdness,  has  shot  him  all  through  of  infernal 
electricity,  and  he  is  a  business  man  until  the  next 
Sunday.  In  what  does  that  man  glory  ? 

As  we  ascend  in  the  ranks  of  humanity,  we  won 
der  on  what  the  great  thinkers,  the  great  inventors, 
the  painters,  the  poets,  the  orators,  and  architects, 
most  valued  themselves.  We  think  we  should  like 
to  know  what  Shakspeare,  that  great  student  of 
human  nature,  thought  of  "  the  immortal  Will," 
when  he,  in  turn,  arose  before  him,  as  probably  he 
did — and  we  think  it  would  be  grand  to  know  what 
Dante  and  old  Homer  valued  most  in  themselves. 
Then  our  thoughts,  still  lifting  themselves,  look  on 
the  angels,  and  wonder  what  is  their  self-estimate. 
We  tremble  as  we  approach  God,  and  hardly  dare 
to  wish  to  hear  in  what  he  glories.  He,  infinitely 
above  all  things  that  are  created,  the  architect  of 
all  architects.  Why,  St.  Peter's  is  a  mere  rat-hole 


248        LIVING    WOKDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

compared  to  the  smallest  worlds  that  God  flings 
from  his  fingers  faster  than  sparks  fly  from  the  black 
smith's  anvil ;  but  he  has  told  us  in  what  he  glories  : 
and  first  and  chiefest  is  his  "loving  kindness." 
Not  merely  kindness — it  is  a  compound  word. 
There  are  ten  thousand  kindnesses  that  have  in  them 
not  one  spark  of  love  ;  but  that  word,  "  loving,"  has 
a  personal  meaning — it  shows  us  that  there  is  the 
tie  of  affection  between  us  and  our  Creator.  God 
glories  in  his  "  loving  kindness,  his  j  udgment,  and 
his  righteousness,"  and  man  should  glory  in  under 
standing  and  trying  to  imitate  the  same. 

I  think  it  would  be  a  good  sermon  for  a  man  to 
take  pen  and  paper  and  write  down,  first,  all  the 
things  in  which  he  does  glory ;  next,  the  things  in 
whicli  he  ought  to  glory  ;  and  then  an  indiscrimi 
nate  list  of  his  acts,  and  thoughts,  and  plans,  and 
wishes.  But  I  think  it  would  be  easier  to  induce 
men  to  go  alone,  at  midnight,  and  in  the  dark,  into 
the  charnel-house,  and  drive  a  nail  into  a  coffin, 
after  the  manner  of  the  superstition  of  some,  than 
to  go  down  into  the  depths  of  their  own  selves,  and 
write  out  truly,  with  real  judgment  writing,  what 
there  they  would  see. 


COIN  that  is  current  in  one  place,  is  valueless  in 
another.     Suppose  an  Indian,  far  in  the  western 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         249 

wilds,  were  to  say,  "  I  will  become  a  trader  with 
the  whites.  I  will  go  to  New  York  city  and  buy 
up  half  the  goods  there,  and  come  back  and  sell 
them,  and  then  what  a  rich  Indian  I  shall  be."  He 
then  collects  all  his  wampum  beads,  which  are  his 
money  ;  and  compared  with  other  Indians  he  is  very 
rich,  and  away  he  journeys  to  yonder  city.  Im 
agine  him  going  into  Stewart's,  and  offering  his 
wampum  there,  in  exchange  for  their  goods.  They 
are  refused.  They  were  money  in  the  woods — in 
the  city  they  are  worthless.  And  there  are  thou 
sands  of  men  who  are  carrying  with  them,  to  offer 
at  the  judgment,  what  is  no  better  than  the  Indian's 
beads.  They  are  reckoning  on  their  generosity, 
their  prompt  payment  of  all  their  debts,  their  vari 
ous  good  natural  qualities  ;  but  when  they  present 
them,  they  will  all  be  found  worthless  trash.  The 
things  that  have  made  them  strong,  and  valued, 
and  important  here,  will  there  be  worse  than  use 
less  to  them. 


CRITICS  say  that  Raphael's  transfiguration  trans 
gresses  the  rules  of  art.  It  is  two  pictures  in  one. 
Christ  is  represented  upon  the  mountain  top,  in  his 
glory,  the  disciples  having  fallen,  in  wonder  and  awe, 
to  the  earth  ;  beneath  this  scene  is  the  one  of  the 
possessed  child,  about  whom  the  horror-stricken  dis 
ciples  stand,  unable  to  afford  relief.  With  the 

11* 


250         LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

merit  or  fault  of  this  double  representation  I  have 
nothing  to  do  ;  all  that  I  know  is  this,  that  picture 
is  a  figure  of  human  life.  Above,  Christ  often 
hovers  in  glorious  light ;  while  below,  the  devil  is 
tearing  the  child. 


WHAT  a  man  is,  is  not  what  he  is  on  Sunday, 
when  the  organist  plays  to  him,  and  the  minister 
plays  to  him,  and  all  good  influences  play  to  him ; 
but  it  is  what  he  is  in  the  week-day,  when  his  life 
is  wearing,  and  working,  and  weaving  for  him  the 
garment  in  which  he  is  to  stand  and  be  judged. 


MANY  that  are  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first 
shall  be  last.  There  are  men  whose  entrance  into 
Wall  street  is  like  the  appearance  of  blue  sky  after 
a  northeast  storm.  They  move  along,  leaving  a 
trail  of  bows  and  smiles,  and  heartburnings  and 
envy  behind  them.  How  the  sallow  faces  light  up 
as  old  Moneybags  approaches.  He  is  pointed  after. 
"  Do  you  know  him  ?  A  wonderful  man  ! — worth 
his  millions — smart  as  lightning,"  etc.  That  old 
obese  abomination  of  money  is  their  god  ;  and  yet 
there  is  not  one  particle  of  genuine  worth  in  him. 
He  has  utterly  defiled  and  destroyed  his  manhood 
in  the  manufacturing  of  wealth ;  he  is  a  great 


LIVING   WORDS   FBOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         251 

epitomized,  circulating  hell  on  earth,  and  when  he 
dies,  hell  will  groan — one  more  woe. 

But  there  are  other  men — they  are  seen  some 
times  ;  business-men  say  of  them  :  "  Oh,  yes,  we 
know  them — clever  fellows  enough — mean  very 
well — do  some  good  among  the  poor — have  classes 
in  mission  schools,  etc.  They  are  just  suited  for 
that ;  but,  bless  your  life !  there  might  be  a  million 
such  men  in  the  world,  and  nothing  would  ever  be 
done." 

These  men  die,  and  heaven  rings  with  new  shouts 
of  melody.  There  they  are  known  and  waited  for, 
and  with  triumphant  joy  are  welcomed  home. 


THE  artist,  when  he  begins  to  learn  to  draw, 
finds  the  greatest  difficulty  in  making  straight  lines 
and  circles,  but  when  he  has  coaxed  the  juice  of  his 
brain  down  into  his  fingers,  so  that  they  think,  he 
has  but  to  give  one  glance  at  the  object  he  desires 
to  represent,  and  the  lines  appear,  the  circles  fly  off 
from  his  fingers,  and  the  picture  is  drawn,  almost 
without  thought.  Thus  involuntary  should  be 
right-doing  with  the  Christian.  He  should  form  for 
himself  a  settled  habit,  a  sort  of  refined,  spiritual 
instinct,  by  which  he  should  be  led  constantly  and 
almost  unconsciously,  to  shun  the  evil,  and  to 
choose  the  good. 


252        LIVING    WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

CHRISTIAN  men,  what  testimony  does  your  life 
yield  to  your  sons  ?  Is  it  that  religion,  your  duty 
to  God,  has  the  first  place  in  your  regard,  and  busi 
ness  success  the  subordinate  place?  Or  is  your 
practical  life  (I  do  not  say  your  theoretic  life,  thai 
is  more  frequently  right),  such  as  to  cause  them  to 
conclude  that  you  think  religion  a  good  thing,  but 
that  a  man  must  succeed  in  business,  anyhow,  and 
after  that  he  ought  to  serve  God  as  well  as  he  can. 


SOME  men  have  pronounced  the  rebukes  of  con 
science  to  be  the  punishment  for  sin.  I  marvel 
how  they  can  reason  thus  ;  or  I  should  marvel  if  I 
did  so  at  anything  in  man.  Either  all  is  marvellous 
in  him,  or  nothing  is. 

But  can  any  reasonable  being  believe  that  ,the 
Creator  would  institute  a  punishment  which  should 
deal  most  severely  with  the  smallest  sins,  and  least 
severely  with  the  greatest?  Would  God  decreee 
that  the  worst  man  should  bear  least  punishment, 
and  the  best  man  most  ?  Yet  look  at  facts,  and 
deny  not  that  this  is  the  way  in  which  conscience 
punishes.  Everybody  knows  that  it  is  the  first  and 
least  sins  that  are  most  soundly  scourged  by  this 
feeling.  It  is  in  proportion  as  a  man  is  pure  that 
his  sins  afflict  him.  It  is  at  the  beginning  of  a 
wrong  course  that  we  run  against  the  spears,  that 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         253 

we  kick  against  the  pricks,  that  we  are  excoriated. 
"When  a  man  is  in  the  deeper  plains  of  guilt,  he  is 
generally  far  more  comfortable  than  he  was  before 
he  had  descended  so  low.  How  can  any  one  ima 
gine  that  the  Almighty  would  contrive  such  a 
miserable,  one-sided  mode  of  punishment  ? 


REPENTANCE  is  not  feeling  bad  about  your  sins, 
or  talking  humbly  about  them,  or  calling  yourself 
hard  names,  or  thinking  that  you  are  the  greatest 
of  sinners,  or  writing  in  your  journal  about  your 
depravity,  or  praying,  or  going  forward  to  the  anx 
ious  seat ;  it  is  turning  from  your  sins  to  righteous 
ness.  "When  you  feel  bad  enough  to  do  that,  it  is 
sufficient.  More  feeling  is  useless,  and  often  dan 
gerous.  It  is  this  firing  up  of  feeling  which  causes 
most  of  the  mischief  complained  of  in  revivals. 
There  is  no  merit  in  deep  feeling.  It  is  no  credit 
to  a  man  that  God  was  obliged  to  shake  him  over 
fire  and  brimstone  to  make  him  a  convert.  Turn — 
blessed  are  they  who,  the  moment  they  are  made 
to  see  that  they  are  sinners,  and  are  lost  without 
the  Saviour,  go  straight  to  him,  without  waiting  to 
be  lashed  thither — such  are  the  best  conversions — 
such  are  the  most  noble  natures.  But  some  have 
presented  God  and  his  law  in  such  a  way,  as  to 
offend  against  all  of  taste,  generosity,  and  manli- 


254:        LIVING    WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

ness — I  had  almost  said  against  every  affection  there 
is  in  man;  and  then  they  call  the  stirring  that 
there  is  within  against  this  view  of  God  the  rebel 
lion  of  the  natural  heart,  and  they  teach  that  there 
must  now  be  a  pitched  battle  between  God  and  the 
soul — God  saying,  "  You  shall  submit,"  and  the 
soul  declaring,  "I  won't;"  until,  finally,  when 
driven  to  the  very  verge  of  perdition,  by  the  thun 
ders  of  the  law,  the  soul  turns  short  about  and 
hastens  to  God — rather  than  fall  into  hell.  There 
may  be,  there  are,  experiences  like  this,  but  they 
are  not  the  rule,  they  are  not  needful — at  least  not 
to  many.  In  my  office  of  pastor,  I  am  often  called 
upon  to  talk  with  persons  who  are  in  trouble, 
because  they  think  they  were  converted  too  easy, 
or  because  they  never  had  such  times  as  Payson 
had,  when  he  had  dyspepsia,  and  fasted,  and  had 
horrible  views  of  "  the  exceeding  sinful  ness  of 
sin."  "  If  I  was  really  converted,  why  was  I  not 
converted  just  as  Brother  A.  was?  If  conversion 
is  the  work  of  God,  it  will  be  alike,  won't  it? 
There  will  be  no  mistaking  it." 

Men  are  the  work  of  God — did  ever  you  see  two 
men  who  were  in  all  respects  exactly  alike  ?  God's 
taste  evidently  does  not  choose  uniformity. 

Two  ships  come  into  ISTew  York  harbor.  One 
has  crossed  the  ocean  with  a  favoring  breeze.  She 
had  all  sails  set,  everything  below  and  aloft  spread 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         255 

to  the  pleasant  wind,  and  not  one  hindrance  was  in 
her  way.  But  another  soon  enters,  and  everybody 
hastens  to  board  her.  The  captain  of  the  fortunate 
craft  is  one  of  the  first  to  greet  his  brother  captain : 
"  How  came  you  in  such  a  plight  ?  Did  you 
have  a  storm?"  he  says.  " Storm!"  repeats  the 
other,  "  I  guess  we  did.  I've  been  upon  the  ocean 
forty  years  (you  know  with  captains  the  last  storm 
is  the  worst  that  they  ever  saw),  and  I  never  saw  a 
time  like  the  one  we've  just  passed — I've  been  near 
foundering  a  dozen  times.  We've  lost  our  top 
masts  and  our  bowsprit,  our  sails  are  torn  into  rib 
bons,  our  bulwarks  are  stove  in,  we've  lost  our 
boats ;  I've  lost  all  I  had,  and  my  men  are  nearly 
worn  out.  It  has  been  hurricanes  one  side  or 
another  all  the  way  across,  and  we  have  but  just 
got  into  port  alive."  The  captain  of  the  uninjured 
ship  goes  back  to  her  decks  and  says,  dubiously, 
shaking  his  head :  "  Well,  bo'ys,  I  begin  to  doubt 
whether  we  really  are  in  ~New  York,  after  all.  It 
can't  be  that  we  have  crossed  the  ocean,  we  never 
had  any  experience  like  that." 


NEVER  did  a  summer  pass  that  did  not  smile  on 
the  storehouse  of  autumn,  and  cause  it  to  open  its 
doors  and  bring  forth  of  its  abundant  treasures. 


256         LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

THERE  was  a  time  when  honesty,  truth  and  fair 
ness  of  general  behavior  were  the  chief  things  that 
religious  teachers  insisted  upon ;  and  men  almost 
forgot  that  Christianity  had  any  inner  life  ;  but  the 
reaction  came,  and  to  this  external  religion  arose 
an  opposition.  The  defrauded  faculties  asserted 
their  claim,  and  now  was  the  era  of  intense  spiritual 
devotees,  who  taught  that  there  might  be  a  true 
and  vital  Christianity  in  a  man's  heart,  distinct 
from,  and  independent  of,  his  outward  life  and  con 
duct.  It  was  faith  and  works  at  war  with  each 
other,  and  religiously  bombarding  each  other  with 
texts;  instead  of  walking  hand  in  hand  in  holy 
union.  There  is  no  way  in  which  a  man  can 
prove  that  he  has  true  faith  in  his  heart,  except 
by  good  works  in  his  life 


MANY  persons  suppose  that  there  is  required,  in 
order  to  a  man's  satisfactory  conviction  that  he  is  a 
child  of  God,  a  vivid  and  unmistakable  assurance 
of  faith.  They  think  that  the  heart  is  as  wax,  and 
like  inert  wax  they  suppose  it  lies,  until  the  Lord 
takes  his  signet  ring  or  seal,  and  stamps  it  with  his 
name.  Then,  after  feeling  that  impression,  the  soul 
is  certain  of  its  son-ship.  It  may  wander  away, 
and  the  name  may  be  covered  from  sight  by  ten 
thousand  faults  and  sins,  but  down  beneath  them 
all,  it  is  there,  and  it  cannot  be  erased.  Now  this 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         257 

is  not  the  way  in  which  the  Spirit  of  God  usually 
bears  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  sons 
of  God.  Without  doubt  there  is  immediate  actual 
contact  of  God's  Spirit  with  the  spirit  of  man, 
whenever  this  is  best ;  but  ordinarily  all  our  expe 
riences  are  made  to  come  to  us  through  the  medium 
of  our  own  natural  states ;  through  the  influences 
of  things  around  us,  and  within  us.  Anything 
that  produces  in  the  mind  the  reasonable,  sober 
conviction  that  we  are  his,  is  the  true  witness  of 
God's  Spirit  with  ours.  The  evidences  of  a  man's 
Christianity  (if  he  is  a  Christian)  are  not  so  diffi 
cult  and  serious  a  matter  as  men  think.  Why,  any 
one  who  has  sense  sufficient  to  judge  whether  he  is 
a  good  citizen  or  not,  or  whether  he  is  the  affec 
tionate  son  of  his  own  parents,  can  tell  whether  he 
is  a  child  of  God.  "If  ye  love  me  ye  will  keep 
my  commandments."  "  Ah !"  you  sigh,  "  but  I 
don't  always  keep  them."  Well,  ask  that  little 
child  how  he  knows  that  he  loves  his  parents ;  he 
will  answer  you,  "  Because  I  love  to  do  what  they 
want  me  to  do."  "  Why,  my  dear  child,  you  are 
always  doing  what  they  don't  want  you  to  do.  You 
can't  prove  your  love  to  them  by  that  rule."  The 
poor  child  hangs  its  head,  and  says,  "  I  don't  know 
as  I  can."  He  cannot  answer  you.  You  ask  again, 
"  My  child,  how  do  you  know  that  you  love  your 
parents  ?"  "  Why,  why  I  do  love  to  please  them 


258         LIVING   WOBDS    FKOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

better  than  anything  else  in  the  world."  "Ah! 
but  I  have  just  shown  you  that  you  do  not  always 
try  to  please  them ;  how  can  you  say  that  this  is 
your  proof  of  love  to  them?"  The  child  is 
silenced ;  but  in  his  little  heart  he  knows  that  in 
spite  of  his  disobedience  he  does  desire  to  do  his 
parents'  will ;  and  that  he  does  love  them,  whether 
he  perfectly  obeys  them  or  not.  He  thinks,  per 
haps,  "  I  am  a  poor  child,  a  hard  child  to  manage ; 
I  give  them  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  but  I  love 
them ;  I  am  their  own  child  after  all.  They  would 
never  give  me  up ;  and  nothing  on  earth  could  take 
me  from  them." 

Faith  is  the  life  of  a  child,  and  that  is  why  the 
Saviour  declares,  "Except  ye  become  as  little 
children,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  When,  therefore,  you  examine  yourself 
by  the  rule  of  obedience,  and  find  that  you  are  not 
perfect  there,  see  if  it  is  your  greatest  desire  to 
honor  Christ  by  keeping  his  commandments,  and 
if  you  are  trying  to  do  so ;  and  if  it  is  the  grief 
and  pain  of  your  life  that  you  fail  as  you  do.  If 
you  wish,  more  than  anything  else,  to  be  his ;  if 
you  yearn  to  have  him  for  your  friend ;  if  you  feel 
that  you  must  and  will  belong  to  him  or  to  nobody r, 
you  need  no  more  remarkable  "  witness."  If  you 
were  not  his  before,  you  are  so  now;  so  enjoy  him 
afresh — 'tis  sweet  making  love  again. 


LIVING    WOKDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         259 

SUPPOSE  one  of  the  sheep  in  a  fold  were  to  go  to 
the  shepherd,  and  say,  "I  think  I'm  your  sheep, 
because  you  get  six  pounds  of  wool  off  me ;"  and 
another  should  say,  "  And  I  think  I'm  your  sheep, 
because  you  get  four  pounds  of  wool  from  me ;" 
and  a  third,  "  I  hope  I  am  your  sheep,  but  I  don't 
know,  for  you  only  get  three  pounds  of  wool  from 
me ;  and  sometimes  it  is  but  two."  Finally,  sup 
pose  one  poor  scraggy  fellow  comes  who  don't  know 
whether  he  is  a  sheep  or  a  goat,  and  makes  his 
complaint ;  the  shepherd  would  say,  "  I  know  who 
are  the  best  sheep,  and  who  are  the  worst.  I  wish 
you  could  all  give  me  ten  pounds  of  wool;  but 
whether  you  give  me  ten  pounds  or  one,  you  are 
all  mine.  I  bought  you,  and  paid  for  you,  and  you 
are  all  in  my  fold,  and  you  every  one  belong  to 
me."  It  is  not  how  mucli  a  sheep  brings  his  owner 
which  proves  him  his.  The  proof  that  the  sheep 
belongs  to  the  shepherd  is,  that  the  shepherd 
bought  him  and  takes  care  of  him. 


THE  main  thing  is  to  be  determined  to  go  towards 
heaven.  If  the  man  resolutely  aims  for  that  place, 
he  will  not  fail  to  reach  it  in  the  end,  however 
much  he  may  wander  off  his  track ;  pushed  this  way 
and  that  by  temptations.  The  most  unskillful  navi 
gator  may  gain  the  port  for  which  he  steers,  even 


260         LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

though  his  course  across  the  sea  be  zigzag,  if 
every  time  he  takes  the  sun  he  comes  back  to  his 
course,  and  perseveres  in  his  endeavors  to  gain  his 
desired  haven.  He  may  justly  say :  "  Though  I  am 
a  bungler,  and  a  very  poor  navigator,  I  am  no 
smuggler,  no  pirate;  I  work  hard  to  gain  my 
port,  and  I  believe  that  I  shall  gain  it  in  safety." 
Thus  the  Christian  often  is  constrained  to  cry  out : 
u  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  mean  to  hold  an  even 
course  towards  thee  ;  but  thou  knowest,  also,  how  I 
am  pushed  off  here  by  wrong  impulses,  and  drawn 
off  there  by  vain  desires — how  pride,  and  vanity, 
and  selfishness  impede  my  way ;  and  how  often  my 
appetites  and  passions  trip  up  my  feet,  and  cast  me 
to  the  earth.  Yet  I  will  come  back  to  the  path.  I 
do  desire  to  keep  it.  The  settled  and  deliberate 
resolve  and  aspiration  of  my  soul  is  to  walk  in  the 
way  of  thy  commandments." 


WHEN  I  was  at  Fall  River,  I  was  obliged  to  rise 
at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  take  the  train.  I 
took  my  carpet-bag  in  my  hand  and  ran,  but  was  in 
trouble  lest  I  might  be  running  directly  from  the 
cars  instead  of  towards  them.  There  was  not  a  per 
son  in  sight ;  but  I  saw  a  light  in  one  upper 
window.  A  watcher  was  there.  I  rang  the  bell, 
and  asked  information  as  to  my  way.  It  was  given. 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         261 

I  was  about  right — only  needed  a  little  help ;  and 
now,  knowing  that  I  was  in  the  right  way,  I  did 
run.  A  bird  might  have  counted  it  doing  well  to 
keep  up  with  me ;  for  I  expected  every  moment  to 
hear  the  bell,  and  the  rushing  off  of  the  train,  and 
then  I  should  be  there  and  my  people  without  a 
sermon  for  Sunday.  Only  let  me  be  sure  that 
I  was  in  the  right  way,  and  I  was  willing  to  run. 
So  says  the  Christian :  "  Only  let  me  be  swre  that  I 
am  on  my  way  to  heaven,  and  there  is  nothing  that 
I  am  not  willing  to  do  or  to  bear." 

Well,  if  you  are  so  earnest,  know  that  Christ  is 
the  way ;  and  if  you  are  desirous  to  cast  away  all 
that  shall  hinder  your  race,  I  think  you  need  not 
doubt  that  you  are  already  in  it. 


THERE  is  nothing  on  earth  better  than  a  good 
woman ;  and  there  is  nothing  on  earth  worse  than  a 
wicked  one.  The  nature  of  a  true,  pure-hearted 
woman  is  lifted  up  until  it  well-nigh  touches  that 
of  angels;  but  the  nature  of  a  bad  woman  strikes 
beneath,  until  her  roots  are  fed  by  the  fiery  sap  of 
hell. 


THERE  are  some  things  that  money  cannot  buy. 
The  spot  of  land  where  your  child  lies  buried, 
could  it  buy  that  f  Or  the  last  letter  or  gift  of  the 
best  friend  that  you  ever  had  on  earth  ? 


262        LIVING   WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

AHAB  was  just  such  a  man  as  would  have  done  to 
appoint  governors  for  Kansas.  He  could  cause  the 
doing  of  mean  and  wicked  acts,  and  jet  not  know 
anything  about  them.  He  was  not  responsible  for 
the  murder  of  Naboth — of  course  not — how  should 
he  know  what  his  wife  intended  ?  He  knew  that 
she  had  promised  him  the  vineyard  ;  and  he  knew 
that  when  she  had  determined  to  give  it  to  him,  it 
v/as  already  as  good  as  his.  He  was  aware,  also, 
that  the  woman  who  was  thus  pledged  to  oblige 
him  knew  no  law  which  could  stand  a  moment 
against  her  desires.  Resolute,  crafty,  cruel,  not 
"  hard  faced ;"  for  she  was,  probably,  very  beauti 
ful,  she  marched  straight  on  to  the  accomplishment 
of  her  purposes,  whatever  might  be  trampled  under 
her  feet  in  her  way.  But  he  gave  no  orders ;  he 
merely  said :  "  There  is  my  desk,  Jezebel ;  there 
is  my  pen,  my  papers,  and  my  signet ;  use  them 
as  you.  choose.  Of  course,  you  will  do  nothing 
wrong."  Imagine  the  two  to  look  at  each  other 
just  here.  "  Of  course,  Jezebel,  you  will  do  no 
thing  wrong." 

No  doubt  Naboth  might  have  had  twice  the 
worth  of  his  vineyard  had  he  chosen  to  sell  it.  He 
might  have  had  a  great  deal  better  land,  and  have 
raised  three  times1  as  many  grapes/  But  he  knew 
that  there  were  some  crops  raised  on  his  farm  which 
he  could  get  nowhere  else.  The  larger  yield  of 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         263 

grapes  might  be  very  well  in  their  way ;  but  he, 
beneath  the  trees  and  the  vines  under  which  his 
fathers  had  for  generations  sat,  and  where,  beside 
his  mother,  he  had  sported  when  a  child,  and  where 
his  brothers  and  sisters  were  born,  could  drink 
sweeter  nectar  out  of  airy  cups,  than  all  the  juice 
of  grapes  ever  pressed  upon  the  hills  of  Samaria. 
Naboth  was  right  to  hold  on  to  his  home.  There 
were  garnered  memories  that  all  the  wealth  of 
Ahab  could  not  buy. 

But  Jezebel,  wrote  her  letters  to  "the  elders  and  to 
the  nobles  of  her  kingdom — to  the  "  Elders  and  the 
Nobles  /"•  —and  she  ordered  them  to  proclaim  a 
fast.  When  people  meditate  a  deed  of  wickedness 
particularly  atrocious,  they  often  feel  that  they  had 
better  have  a  fast  first.  What  devout  men  those 
"  Elders  "  must  have  been !  and  how  noble  those 
"  Nobles !"  How  acceptable  to  God  must  such 
fasts  be !  And  they  set  Naboth  on  high  among  the 
people,  and  the  false  witnesses  were  found ;  no 
trouble  about  that,  when  the  queen  commanded  it, 
and  the  good  man  was  dragged  out  and  stoned,  and 
dogs  licked  his  blood.  Well !  BTaboth  deserved 
liis  fate — he  was  "  an  agitator."  He  agitated  the 
king ;  he  would  not  let  him  have  his  vineyard  for  a 
kitchen  garden  ;  and  Ahab  was  so  agitated  about  it 
that  he  couldn't  eat  his  dinner ;  and  that  agitated 
Jezebel  very  much.  She  did  not  like  to  see  the 


264:         LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

king  rolled  over  on  the  bed,  like  a  great  baby,  with 
his  face  to  the  wall.  And  they  were  "  the  govern 
ment  " — so  Naboth  was  an  agitator  of  the  govern 
ment  of  his  country ;  and  he  deserved  stoning. 

"When  this  agitator  was  dead,  Ahab  went  down 
to  take  possession  of  the  coveted  vineyard,  which, 
as  its  owner  had  died  as  a  criminal,  lapsed  from  his 
heirs  to  the  crown. 

As  the  king  was  complacently  viewing  his  prize, 
lo !  there  stood  before  him,  the  first  growth  of  this 
desired  garden,  sprung  to  full  size  in  one  night — the 
prophet  who  was  sent  to  pronounce  to  the  wicked 
monarch  hie  doom. 

"  In  the  place  where  the  dogs  licked  the  blood  of 
Naboth  shall  dogs  lick  thy  blood — even  thine — and 
the  dogs  shall  eat  Jezebel  by  the  walls  of  Jezreel." 
And  this  was  literally  fulfilled  ;  for  they  were  soon 
after  miserably  slain  and  dog  eaten.  When  Ahab 
and  Jezebel  laid  their  plans,  and  executed  their 
wickedness,  they  had  forgotten  God.  Men  do  so 
still.  Because  he  that  sitteth  in  the  Jieavens  keeps 
quiet,  they  think  that  he  is  not  regarding ;  but  he 
is.  Poor  Naboth  may  have  felt  that  the  Lord 
knew  not  his  wrongs  and  his  distress,  but  we  see 
how  that  was.  And  we  see,  too,  by  this  account, 
how  God  looks  upon  the  unrighteous  actions  caused 
by  the  hands  of  agents.  Ahab  was  not  going  to 
hold  himself  accountable  for  the  results  of  what  Je- 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         265 

zebel,  his  agent,  chose  to  do.  God,  however,  held 
him  to  a  strict  account.  Retribution  has  a  long 
arm ;  it  reaches  down  through  many  years,  i-.ad  it 
is  a  sheriff  from  which  there  is  no  escape,  however 
skillfully  we  may  dodge  all  others.  Thousands  and 
ten  thousands  of  men,  would  they  speak-  out  their 
secret  convictions,  would  say  that  the  very  wicked 
ness  upon  which  they  had  built  their  highest  hopes 
of  worldly  prosperity  and  happiness  was  the  open 
ing  of  the  pit  which  whelmed  them  in  destruction. 

We  must  not  too  sharply  blame  the  elders  and 
the  nobles  for  their  part  in  this  matter.  They  were 
but  obeying  the  law.  They  did  not  want  to  trouble 
their  minds,  or  endanger  their  interests,  about  the 
wild  and  romantic  notions  of  "the  higher  law." 
As  good  citizens  they  must  obey  the  requirements 
of  government. 

This  is  exactly  what  was  done  in  our  country  at 
the  time  of  the  enactment  of  the  fugitive  slave  law, 
and  there  were  not  wanting  efforts  to  induce  the 
clergy  to  exhort  the  people  to  submit  to  the  law's 
requirements,  and  to  aid  in  its  enforcement. 

The  young  ministers  were  very  refractory ;  but 
there  were  numbers  of  the  old,  and  hitherto  respect 
ed  and  honorable  clergymen,  who  were  prevailed 
upon  to  aid  in  trying  to  cloak  that  enormous  ini 
quity.  They  did  not  cloak  it ;  they  only  uncloaked 
themselves. 

12 


266        LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

Daniel  Webster  stooped  to  influence  these  men 
to  this  step,  both  by  letters  and  by  personal  address, 
and  it  was  taken.  When  our  own  elders  advocate 
the  enforcement  of  this  manner  of  government,  why 
should  we  bear  too  severely  upon  the  elders  who 
procured  the  death  of  Naboth  ? 


IT  is  not  worth  while  for  any  one  who  is  yet 
young,  who  has  not  yet  soiled  virtue,  or  honesty,  or 
manly  honor,  to  try  the  eifect  of  doing  so.  Young 
men,  be  true  to  virtue,  be  honest,  be  religious,  so 
shall  you  have  peace  in  your  later  years. 


A  CHRISTIAN,  just  born  into  the  kingdom,  is  often 
like  a  loaf  of  bread  when  its  materials  are  just  put 
together.  The  baker  has  mixed  them,  and  left  the 
bread  to  rise.  You  go  to  the  dough  and  say,  "  Are 
you  bread  ?"  "  No,"  says  the  dough,  "  I  am  not." 
In  an  hour  you  go  again  and  ask,  "Are  you  bread  ?" 
"  No,  I  am  not,"  replies  the  dough ;  "  I  feel  a  little 
stirring  "  (said  with  a  rising  of  the  shoulders)  "  in 
me,  but  I  am  not  bread."  In  two  hours  more  yon 
try,  "Are  you  bread  now?"  "No,"  is  still  the 
reply,  "  I'm  sponge ;  but  not  bread.  I'm  not 
baked,  nor  eaten  yet."  But  by  and  by,  after  the 
baker  gives  it  the  final  kneading,  and  it  is  ready 
for  the  oven,  when  it  is  baked,  it  owns  that  now  it 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        267 

is  really  bread.  Yet  it  has  gained  no  new  element 
since  the  first  mixing.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  heart  is  like  leaven  which  a  woman  hid  in  a 
measure  of  meal  until  the  whole  was  leavened. 


IT  has  been  said  that  a  statesman  will  not  soil  his 
hands  by  doing  the  vile  and  dirty  work  that  is  de 
manded  by  the  present  system  of  politics ;  but  that 
he  keejps  for  his  use  persons  who  are  not  squeamish 
as  to  what  they  do,  so  long  as  they  are  well  paid 
for  it.  But  the  story  of  Ahab  tells  how  that  sort  of 
management  is  dealt  with  by  the  Lord. 

There  are  men  in  these  cities  known  as  abolition 
ists  whoj  when  occasion  calls  for  it,  shut  their  eyes 
and  bid  their  southern  agent  do  the  best  he  can  for 
them.  They  say,  "  I  must  do  business ;  and  I  can't 
afford  to  lose  ten  thousand  dollars  by  my  southern 
customers.  'Tis  a  bad  affair,  no  doubt.  Don't  let 
me  hear  a  word  about  it.  Here,  I  leave  the  matter 
with  you.  Do  the  best  you  can  for  me.  I  wash  my 
hands  of  the  whole  business." 

Ah  !  it's  rather  difficult  getting  that  sort  of  stain 
off.  I  tell  you,  the  pious  merchant,  seated  in  his 
slippers  comfortably  by  his  Sunday  fire,  reading  his 
religious  paper,  while  his  agent,  at  the  South  is  sell 
ing  men,  women,  and  children,  body  and  soul  too 


268         LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

often,  is  held  accountable  for  all  the  wrong,  disaster 
and  misery  thus  caused. 

Don't  you  believe  it?  I  appeal  to  God's  judg 
ment  bar  ;  and  we  will  take  up  the  subject  and  de 
bate  it  again  there. 

Any  dishonest  deed  done  by  the  most  extensive 
and  respected  firm — the  making  out  of  false  bills 
of  sale — the  giving  in  of  wrong  invoices  at  the 
custom-house — no  matter  if  these  things  be  done 
by  the  hand  of  the  greenest  clerk  or  the  last  and 
smallest  boy  employed  in  the  business,  will  be  reck 
oned  for,  first  and  most  rigorously,  with  the  first  in 
power  in  that  firm. 

Ah !  there  is  a  great  deal  of  craft  and  cunning 
among  men — they  are  very  shrewd  and  subtile, 
and  can  go  far  and  long  in  artifice  and  duplicity  ; 
but  God  is  a  match  for  them  all. 


A  GREEDY  man  is  not  long  in  growing  covetous, 
and  when  the  grasping  and  avaricious  passions  be 
come  swollen  and  inflamed,  there  is  always  danger 
that  they  will  break  out  into  some  deeds  of  deeper 
wickedness.  He  who  finds  himself  feeling  sorry 
that  another's  house  is  larger  and  better,  or  that 
his  prospects  in  life  are  fairer  than  his  own,  may 
be  sure  that  the  worst  form  of  envy  is  upon  him ; 
before  he  knows  it,  he  will  covet  that  which  is 


LIVING   WOBDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        269 

another's  ;  and  then  he  will  be  in  perpetual  danger 
of  committing  crime,  in  order  to  obtain  it.  The 
more  he  looks  at  what  he  wants,  the  more  he  will 
want  it ;  which  is  always  the  case  with  us  when  we 
want  what  we  must  not  have.  It  is  right  to  wish  to 
have  good  things  like  those  owned  by  our  neigh 
bors,  if  we  can  make  fair  trade  for  them ;  and  if  our 
neighbor  is  willing  to  sell  that  which  is  his,  we 
have  a  right  to  wish  for  and  purchase  that ;  but  our 
desire  must  go  no  further  than  this.  The  moment 
we  cherish  a  desire  to  get  from  him  that  with  which 
he  does  not  wish  to  part,  we  sin.  The  desire,  cher 
ished,  to  steal  makes  a  man  a  thief. 


WHEN  an  old  man,  who  has  spent  seventy  long 
years  in  this  world,  who  has  seen  almost  the  whole 
of  life,  and  is  trembling  on  the  very  verge  of  the 
grave,  comes  at  last  to  the  Saviour,  drawn  by  that 
gracious  Spirit  that  will  save  unto  the  uttermost 
rather  than  permit  the  prayers  of  his  saints  to  be  in 
vain,  I  am  glad  that  his  soul  is  saved — glad  for  his 
sake — glad  for  the  sake  of  the  parents  long  ago  gone 
home,  and  glad  for  the  sake  of  the  other  faithful 
friends  who  have  prayed  scores  and  scores  of  years 
for  his  conversion ;  but  after  all,  'tis  a  mean  busi 
ness. 

This  giving  .all  the  greenness  and  efflorescence  of 


270        LIVING   WOBDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

one's  life — all  one's  strength  and  beauty — to  the 
devil,  and  then,  when  one  has  sucked  all  the  plea 
sures  that  he  can  get  out  of  sin  and  the  world, 
coming  and  offering  the  dregs  of  his  life — his  old 
worn-out  corn -husk,  to  the  Lord !  'tis  dirt  mean  ! 
If  any  of  you  young  people  meditate  such  a  course, 
you  will  not  be  likely  to  be  allowed  the  chance. 


I  AM  not  afraid  of  a  laugh,  even  in  the  meeting 
house,  nor  on  the  Sunday,  if  it  come  of  a  right 
spirit.  It  is  often  better  to  laugh  than  to  weep ; 
and  to  laugh  in  the  very  presence  of  our  Maker  is 
well,  if  it  be  the  laughter  of  Abraham,  and  not  the 
scornful  and  unbelieving  laughter  of  Sarah. 


WHY  is  it,  when  the  coffin  is  unearthed,  and  that 
which  has  lain  long  within  it  is  exposed,  and 
when  the  father  and  the  mother,  bending  over  it 
with  tears  and  anguish,  call  tenderly  with  the  soul's 
utmost  yearning :  "  My  son  !  my  son !"  that  the 
dust  makes  no  reply  ?  Why  is  not  the  mouldering 
mass  moved  ?  Why  does  it  make  no  sign,  but  only 
the  nimble  worms  creep  in  and  out,  and  the  noi 
some  dust  settles  closer  together?  It  is  because 
the  man  is  dead. 

Why  is  it,  when  lover  calls  to  lover  to  return, 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.        271 

when  the  confiding  one  who  has  believed  in  man, 
as  she  should  believe  alone  in  her  God,  and  has 
been  rewarded-— as  man  rewards — pleads  with  the 
miscreant  who  has  stolen  from  her  her  store  of  love, 
making  no  requital,  when  her  tear-dimmed  eyes 
and  quivering  lips  beseech  him,  when  all  her  soul 
is  poured  before  him,  and  she  utters  her  hopeless 
cry  in  his  very  ear,  does  he  not  pity  and  regard 
her?  It  is  because  the  wretch  is  dead,  dead. 
Dead  to  all  that  lifts  him  above  the  brute ;  dead  to 
whatever  is  not  earthly,  sensual,  devilish.  And 
God  calls  to  men,  he  wooes  them,  he  entreats  them, 
and  they  answer  not,  nor  hear,  because,  as  he 
declares,  "  They  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins." 


THE  man  who  designedly  wins  the  love  of  a 
woman  when  he  knows  that  he  either  cannot  or 
ought  not  fully  to  requite  it — there  is  not  an  evil 
thing  on  the  earth  or  beneath  it  that  is  so  base  a 
knave  as  he. 


WHEN  you  come  to  Christ  you  must  come  as  an 
offender — you  must  be  sorry -for  your  sins,  and  per 
fectly  willing  to  give  them  all  up,  or  he  will  never 
receive  you.  Suppose  a  man  were  to  strike  a  child, 
or  a  sick  man,  or  a  feeble  woman,  everybody  would 
cry  "  shame  1"  But  if  he,  upon  reflection,  grew 


272        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

ashamed,  and  went  humbly  and  confessed  his  fault, 
and  tried  all  in  his  power  to  make  up  for  it,  men 
would  let  him  up.  If,  however,  the  man  who  struck 
happened  to  be  one  of  your  consistent  men,  obstinate 
and  conceited  (whose  consistency  is  not  in  never  do 
ing  wrong,  but  in  never  confessing  it),  he  won't  re 
pent,  nor  atone.  He  will  say,  "  Well,  I  did  it,  and 
it  must  remain"  The  world  will  call  that  man  a 
brute.  In  these  things  the  judgment  of  the  world 
is  that  of  Christ. 

Suppose  a  man  were  to  call  upon  the  physician 
and  say,  "  Well,  sir,  I  want  your  services." 

"  Are  you  sick  ?"  says  the  physician. 

u.  No ;  not  that  I  know  of." 

"  What,  then,  do  you  want  of  me  ?" 

"  Oh !  I  want  your  services." 

"But  what  for?" 

The  man  makes  no  reply. 

"  Are  you  in  pain  ?" 

"No." 

"  Is  your  head  out  of  order  ?" 

"No." 

"Nor  your  stomach?" 

"No;  I  believe  not.  I  feel  perfectly  well;  but 
still  I  thought  I  should  like  a  little  of  your  help." 

What  would  a  doctor  think  of  such  a  case  as  this  ? 
What  must  Christ  think  of  those  that  ask  his  help, 
unfeeling  that  they  really  need  it  ? 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM  PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        273 

THE  Jews  were  as  pious  as  people  are  now-a-days. 
They  hated  everybody  that  didn't  belong  to  their 
church.  They  looked  upon  the  Canaanites  just  as 
we  look  on  infidels,  heathens,  and  abolitionists. 


I  THINK  that  one  reason  for  my  great  love  for 
trees,  and  flowers,  and  birds  is,  that  through  the 
gentle  ministrations  of  these  things  I  was  taught  a 
better  way  of  prayer  than  any  which  before  I  had 
known.  I  found  my  way  to  God  stepping  on  the 
soft  green  leaves,  and  lifted  by  the  songs  of  birds. 


WHEN  men  complain  to  me  of  low  spirits,  I  tell 
them  to  take  care  of  their  health,  to  trust  in  the 
Lord,  and  to  do  good,  as  a  cure. 


MAN'S  face  is  a  disturbed  face  ;  it  shows  that  in 
his  soul  there  is  no  rest,  not  even  in  his  home. 
Disquiet  is  with  him  in  the  broodings  of  the  night, 
and  repose  comes  not  with  the  flush  of  morning. 


ATTEMPT  to  be  aristocratic  in  the  church,  and  the 
church  dies.  Its  true  power  consists  in  cutting  the 
loaf  of  society  from  top  to  bottom, 

12* 


274        LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

TIME  is  to  us  as  a  beleaguering  army;  parallel 
after  parallel  is  drawn  around-  us,  and  ever  and 
anon  we  see  an  enemy's  flag  waving  over 
some .  outwork.  Charge  after  charge  is  made 
against  us ;  and  as  sight,  and  hearing,  and  touch, 
fail  before  the  assaulting  army,  O  woe  to  man  if 
he  has  no  hereafter  as  a  final  citadel  into  which  to 
retreat. 


ASK  any  man  and  he  will  tell  you,  "  I  expect  to 
live  again."  All  men  believe  it ;  but  this  cold 
faith  of  the  head  is  a  different  thing  from  that  cer 
tainty  which  sometimes  thrills  through  the  heart, 
and  makes  us  long  for  the  future  life,  as  a  school 
boy  longs  for  his  father's  house. 


THERE  is  a  pass  beyond  which  no  man's  honor 
can  go.  Beware  the  narrow  and  intense  moment 
of  the  pressure  of  temptation. 


IT  is  time  we  were  done  talking  of  death  as 
"  The  Great  Tyrant,"  "  The  Enemy,"  etc.  Death- 
it  is  only  God's  call,  "  Come  home."  It  is  but  the 
messenger  to  bring  them  home  sent  to  homesick 
children  at  a  boarding-school ;  or  the  permission  to 
return  to  his  native  land  sent  to  an  exile. 


LIVING  WORDS   FEOM  PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        275 

RELIGION  is  the  Bread  of  Life;  I  wish  we  better 
appreciated  the  force  of  this  expression.  I  remem 
ber  what  bread  was  to  me  when  I  was  a  boy.  I 
could  not  wait  till  I  was  dressed  in  the  morning, 
but  ran  and  cut  a  slice  from  the  loaf — all  the  way 
round,  too,  to  keep  me  until  breakfast;  and  at 
breakfast,  if  diligence  in  eating  earned  wages,  I 
should  have  been  well  paid.  And  then  I  could  not 
wait  for  dinner,  but  ate  again,  and  then  at  dinner ; 
and  I  had  to  eat  again  before  tea,  and  at  tea,  and 
lucky  if  I  didn't  eat  again  after  that.  It  was  bread, 
bread,  all  the  time  with  me,  bread  that  I  lived  on 
and  got  strength  from.  Just  so  religion  is  the 
bread  of  life ;  but  you  make  it  cake — you  put  it 
away  in  your  cupboard  and  never  use  it  but  when 
you  have  company.  You  cut  it  into  small  pieces 
and  put  it  on  china  plates,  and  pass  it  daintily 
round  instead  of  treating  it  as  bread;  common, 
hearty  bread,  to  be  used  every  hour. 


A  MAN'S  ledger  does  not  tell  what  he  is  worth. 
Count  what  is  in  a  man,  not  what  is  on  him,  if  you 
would  know  whether  he  is  rich  or  poor. 


LOVE  that  has  no  fear  of  God  is  always  false  and 
weak. 


276        LIVING   WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

OF  all  impotent  creatures,  man  is  weakest,  when 
he  attempts  by  his  own  strength  to  put  himself 
down.  It  is  ocean  trying  to  put  down  waves  with 
waves.  No  storms  are  like  the  storms  that  rise 
when  man  attempts  to  conquer  his  passions. 


THEKE  are  days  when  the  blood  flows  like  wine — 
days  when  the  sky  is  blue,  and  the  birds  sing  and 
the  flowers  blossom,  and  are  sweet  about  us — when 
life  is  an  anthem  and  a  delight,  and  on  such  days 
this  world's  joy  and  love  suffice  us.  But  a  change 
comes  soon,  and  when  we  are  weary  and  disap 
pointed,  when  the  skies  lower  into  sombre  night, 
when  there  is  no  song  of  birds,  and  the  perfume  of 
the  flowers  is  but  their  dying  breath,  when  all  is 
dreary  autumn ;  then  we  yearn  for  him  who  sits 
with  the  eternal  summer  of  love  in  his  soul ;  and 
we  know  that  all  earthly  affection  is  but  a  glow 
worm's  light,  compared  to  that  which  blazes  with 
such  effulgence  in  the  heart  of  God. 


WHEN  a  man  gives  proof  that  his  heart  is  sound, 
and  that  his  life  is  sound,  there  is  no  divergence  of 
opinion  that  should  keep  us  from  fellowship  with 
him.  I  am  sensitive  in  behalf  of  theologies;  but 
when  theology  puts  its  hoot  upon  the  living,  pal 
pitating;  heart,  my  heart  cries  out  against  it. 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         277 

THOSE  truths  which,  though  rugged,  have  gripe  in 
them,  have  in  themselves  presumptive  evidence  of 
their  truth.  We  are  to  have  toleration,  but  not  of 
falsehood,  nor  that  which  is  founded  on  indiffer 
ence  to  the  truth.  It  makes  all  the  difference  be 
tween  life  and  death,  between  destruction  and  sal 
vation,  what  a  man  believes.  Because  a  man 
sincerely  believes  there  is  no  chasm  before  him, 
when  there  is  one  there,  will  God  the  sooner  save 
that  man's  neck  if  he  goes  forward  ? 


MOST  of  the  religious  controversies  are  of  details. 
The  great  denominations  now  stand  apart  from  each 
other  on  grounds  which,  by  their  own  general  con 
fession,  do  not  touch  the  individual  Christian  cha 
racter. 


IF  there  was  no  grit  in  a  grindstone,  how  long 
would  the  axe  be  in  grinding  ?  and  if  affairs  had  no 
pinch  in  them,  when  would  there  be  made  a  man  ? 
How  can  a  man  walk  by  faith,  unless  compelled  to 
go  where  he  cannot  see  ? 


THE  most  powerful  way  of  teaching  truth  is  to 
show  what  it  has  done  for  you. 


278        LIVING   WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

SENTIMENTAL  aspirations  after  goodness  may  be 
very  well  in  their  way;  but  it  takes  more  than 
these  to  make  a  saint.  A  man  (or  a  woman)  may 
sit  and  read  the  Bible  all  day,  and  cry  over  it,  and 
think  how  precious  and  holy  it  is,  and  how  good 
God  is,  and  then  may  go  away  and  pray  all  night ; 
but  if  the  reading,  and  reflection,  and  praying, 
don't  make  a  better  man  of  him — if  their  effect  is 
not  to  brighten  and  sweeten  his  disposition,  and 
make  him  more  kind  and  loving  to  God's  creatures 
that  are  in  his  company,  or  in  his  power — if  he  can 
shut  his  Bible,  and  turn  with  scowling  brow  and 
unpitying  heart  to  the  orphan  or  the  stranger  within 
his  gates,  he  has  the  very  spirit  of  the  Pharisee. 
He  that  loves  God  let  him  love  his  brother  also. 


GOD  works  by  the  church  just  as  far  as  he  can, 
but  when  she  makes  herself  stiff  or  shallow,  his 
workings  overflow  arid  run  in  a  hundred  ducts  be 
sides. 


THOSE  who  think  that  the  whole  army  of  human 
deeds  must  go  roaring  through  the  thoroughfares 
of  life  whelming  men  in  the  general  rush,  and  that 
no  Sabbath  notice  must  be  taken  of  it — who  make 
the  pulpit  too  holy,  and  the  Sabbath  too  sacred,  to 
be  used  in  bringing  individual  courses  and  develop- 

* 


LIVING    WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        279 

ments  of  society  to  the  bar  of  God's  word  for  trial, 
are  the  lineal  descendants  of  those  Jews  who  con 
sidered  the  Sabbath  so  sacred  that  our  Saviour 
desecrated  it  by  healing  the  withered  hand.  Would 
God  he  could  appear  to  his  church  in  this  our 
day  and  heal  withered  hearts. 


THE  world  was  made  what  it  is  that  you  might 
be  made  what  you  ought  to  be.  Your  daily  duties 
are  a  part  of  your  religious  life  just  as  much  as 
your  devotions  are.  * 


BECAUSE  our  impressions  are  right  we  have  no 
business  to  flash  them,  impreparedly  and  unad 
visedly,  in  the  faces  of  men. 


THE  test  of  a  good  institution  is  that  it  digs  its 
own  grave ;  for  institutions  are  to  humanity  but 
what  scaffolding  is  to  a  house,  or  a  mould  to  the 
thing  that  is  moulded. 


WHEN  God  means  to  make  a  man  useful  in  the 
world,  he  generally  sends  him  first  through  fire — 
he  puts  him  into  the  forge  and  onto  the  anvil — and 
often  he  chastens  most  whom  he  loves  best. 


280        LIVING   WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

MEN  confound  earnestness  and  solemnity.  A 
man  may  be  very  much  in  earnest  and  not  be  very 
solemn ;  or  he  may  be  awfully  solemn  without  a 
particle  of  earnestness.  A  solemn  nothing  is  just 
as  wicked  as  a  witty  nothing.  A  man  may  be  a 
repeater  of  stale  truisms,  he  may  smother  living 
truths  by  conventional  forms  and  phrases,  but  if  he 
put  on  a  very  solemn  face,  and  employ  very  solemn 
gestures  before  an  audience  of  sound  men — men 
soundly  asleep,  at  least — that  will  pass  for  decorous 
handling  of  God's  truth.  The  difference  between 
Christ  and  his  contemporary  teachers  was  that  he 
spoke  live  truths  with  the  power  of  his  own  life  in 
their  utterance.  The  rabbins  spoke  old  orthodoxy, 
dead  as  a  mummy ;  but  they  spoke  it  very  reve 
rently  ;  they  never  violated  any  professional  propri 
ety  ;  they  never  forgot  how  to  move,  how  to  speak, 
how  to  maintain  professional  dignity.  They  forgot 
nothing  except  living  truths  and  living  souls. 
What  if  they  did  not  do  any  good  ?  What  if  every 
body  died  about  them  ?  What  if  they  never  had 
any  fruit  ?  They  charged  that  all  to  divine  sove 
reignty. 

YOUNG  Christians  often  get  discouraged,  and 
think  that  they  bear  no  fruit,  and  shall  be  cut  off. 
They  see  that  Christ  promised  his  disciples  that 
he  would  dwell  in  them,  and  that  they  shall  bear 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        281 

much  fruit.  Christ  did  not  mean  that  fruit  should 
come  at  once,  all  ripened.  Remember  to  whom  he 

spoke men  who  were  for  years  after  this  getting 

it  through  their  heads  that  he  was  to  die  for  them. 
It  was  twenty  years  before  the  fruit  grew  upon 
them  that  we  find  clustering  in  the  epistles ;  and 
then  only  two  or  three  of  them  had  anything  to  do 
out  of  their  own  time. 

When  the  gardener  looks  in  the  spring  to  see  if 
the  branches  of  his  vines  are  alive,  he  is  satisfied  if 
he  sees  the  tip  of  the  most  tiny  bud — he  don't  call 
that  a  dead  branch.  There  was  but  one  of  the 
disciples  that  seemed  much  changed  for  the  better, 
during  the  life  of  Christ — that  was  John.  He  was 
one  of  those  persons  who,  soft  and  velvety  outside, 
have  in  them  a  core  of  granite,  who,  under  a 
smooth  aspect,  carry  the  charge  of  thunder.  He 
was  the  one  who  wanted  to  call  down  fire  from 
heaven  to  burn  up  the  people  who  had  offended 
his  Master.  His  affections,  when  not  disturbed, 
were  tender  and  sweet;  but  thwarted,  he  grew 
bitter  as  gall.  Yet  he  came  at  last  to  that  gentle 
ness  of  character,  by  which  he  is  now  known  ;  and, 
after  a  score  of  years,  grew  able  to  pen  'those  fer- 

• 

vent  letters,  so  remarkable  for  ringing  all  the 
changes  of  love.  Indeed  John  seems  to  have  forgot 
every  word  in  the  language  but  "  love."  It  is  not 
in  one  year,  nor  five,  nor  ten,  that  you  will  ripen. 


282        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

But  you  are  dissatisfied,  and  you  sit  down  and 
try  to  think  how  Christ  looks,  and  try  to  feel  that 
he  is  with  you  ;  and  you  take  the  Bible,  expecting 
that  now  you  are  converted,  it  will  shine  out  at  you 
like  a  house  whose  windows  are  illuminated. 
Christ  will  not  reveal  himself  to  you  in  that  way, 
and  that  is  not  the  manner  in  which  the  Bible  will 
be  a  light  to  you.  You  must  make  it  "  the  man  of 
your  counsel."  "What  a  word  is  that!  what  an 
idea  it  gives  you  of  how  you  should  use  the 
Bible. 

A  man  offers  you  a  note.  You  are  not  quite 
sure  about  it.  You  say  to  him:  "I  don't  know. 
Hold  on ;  I'll  let  you  know  in  half  an  hour ;"  and 
away  you  run,  round  the  corner.  Your  lawyer 
lives  near  by.  You  show  him  the  note.  "  Such  a 
one  offered  me  this.  I  thought  I'd  just  speak  to 
you  about  it.  What  would  you  do?"  "Better 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it,"  says  the  lawyer,  shak 
ing  his  head.  You  run  back,  and  say  to  the  man : 
"  I've  concluded  not  to  take  that  note." 

Then  some  transaction  is  urged  upon  you.  You 
hesitate.  You  don't  know  exactly  whether  it  will 
stand  in  law  :  "  Wait,"  you  say,  "  wait  a  minute — 
I  can't  decide  yet,"  and  away  you  go,  round  the 
corner.  "  Oh,  yes,"  says  your  lawyer,  "  that's  all 
perfectly  right  and  safe ;"  and  back  you  run,  and 
the  matter  is  settled.  He  is  the  "man  of  your 


LIVING   WORDS    FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        283 

counsel."  Just  in  this  way  should  you  consult  the 
Bible,  in  regard  to  all  the  actions  of  your  life.  You 
may  read  all  your  life  in  it,  and  never  get  the 
meaning  out  of  half  its  texts ;  for  I  think  that 
many  texts  of  Scripture  are  long  in  their  periods, 
like  comets,  and  only  cast  their  light  upon  us 
when  the  appointed  time  comes ;  but  unlike  the 
comet,  when  once  they  have  risen  upon  our  hori 
zon,  they  leave  it  no  more,  but  their  splendor 
burns  on  bright  unto  the  end.  There  are  texts 
which  I  got  into  twenty  years  ago,  and  I'm  not  half 
through  them  yet. 

CHRISTIAN  graces  are  not  in  the  Bible.  The 
Bible  tells  us  what  they  are  ;  but  it  is  in  the  strug 
gle  of  life  that  we  are  to  find  them.  A  book  of 
tactics  is  good  to  teach  the  soldier  evolutions,  but 
it  is  the  parade  ground  and  the  battle-field  that 
makes  veterans.  Men  COM  m  ake  an  idol  of  the  Bible. 


EACH  one  of  our  faculties,  when  well  cultivated, 
becomes  an  interpreter  of  God,  a  window  through 
which  we  can  look  out  and  see  God.  Take  benevo 
lence  ;  in-  its  natural  state  'tis  mere  good-nature, 
not  much  of  a  window  then ;  but  when  you  have 
exercised  and  trained  it,  until  you  see  the  inter 
est  of  another  lying  side  by  side,  on  the  same 


284        LIVING   WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

plane  with  yours,  and  can  choose  that  first,  doing 
good  to  another  rather  than  to  yourself ;  when  you 
give  up  rest,  and  comfort,  and  health  itself;  when 
you  uncomplainingly  endure  martyrdom  and  cruci 
fixion  for  the  sake  of  your  nervous,  and  sick,  and 
fretful  children,  who  have  wound  you  up,  and  run 
you  down,  and  almost  worn  you  out,  then  your 
benevolence  shows  you  what  kind  of  feeling  was 
Christ's  when  he  suffered  and  died  for  you. 


IT  is  all  very  well  to  have  a  minister  to  preach 
about  religion  ;  but  you  get  used  to  him.  I  stand 
here,  and  say  over  and  over  to  you  the  same  things 
till  I  wear  the  year  smooth.  Every  Christian  who 
has  come  to  a  realization  of  Christ,  is  a  natural 
and  appointed  preacher  of  him.  You  all  know 
what  is  the  effect  here,  when  from  one  part  of  the 
room  and  another,  men  rise  to  corroborate  each 
other's  witness  to  the  truth  and  effects  of  religion. 
Now,  if  the  church  would  make  the  week  a  witness 
that  should  answer  back  and  confirm  the  Sabbath ; 
if  you,  in  all  your  places  of  business,  about  the 
streets,  everywhere,  would  but  corroborate,  by 
word  and  deed,  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  all  the  truths 
that  I  utter  from  the  pulpit;  if  the  young  convert 
would  call  to  the  companions  that  he  has  left  in  the 
world,  and  the  more  advanced  Christian,  would 


LIVING  'WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         285 

encourage  the  young  one,  and  the  white-haired 
saint  again  stand  on  the  heights,  and  call :  "  Come 
up,  come ;  from  where  we  stand  can  be  seen  the 
gates  of  the  Holy  City,"  how  would  the  influence 
of  the  church  be  felt,  and  how  would  be  hastened 
the  conversion  of  the  world ! 


WHEN  we  begin  to  climb  a  hill,  'tis  hard  work ; 
we  begin  to  puff,  our  legs  begin  to  ache,  and  by 
the  time  we  reach  the  top  of  the  hill,  we  are  pretty 
well  tired  out.  But  once  up,  we  begin  to  descend, 
and  now  we  wonder  that  We  could  have  made  so 
much  ado  about  our  climbing.  "We  resolve  that 
we  never  will  do  so  again.  And  we  shall  not  until 
the  next  time.  But  when  another  hill  is  to  be 
ascended,  it  will  be  the  same  thing  over,  unless  we 
resolve  with  something  more  than  the  ordinary 
firmness  of  men. 

There  are  hills  in  the  moral  as  well  as  in  the 
natural  world,  and  we  manage  worse  about  the 
former  than  the  latter. 


How  few  people  there  are  who  have  a  really 
trusting  spirit.  'Tis  easy  enough  to  trust,  in  regard 
to  things  you  don't  care  anything  about ;  but  upon 
the  point  where  you  are  most  sensitive,  how  far  do 


286        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

you  trust  in  God,  and  not  worry?  Have  you, 
within  five  years,  learned  to  trust  yourself  and 
your  property,  and  the  health  and  life  of  those 
dearest  to  you,  with  God,  in  a  settled  confidence 
that  he  will  do  what  is  best  with  all  ?  And  can  you 
be  cheerful  in  this  trust  ?  The  husbandman  goes 
often  to  examine  whether  his  fruit  ripens  fast.  You 
are  spiritual  husbandmen,  and  should  do  likewise. 
It  is  astonishing,  as  one  walks  the  streets,  to  see 
how  few  good-looking  people  there  are.  Very  rare 
is  it  to  see  a  luminous,  transparent  face,  open  and 
trustful.  There  are  such  natures,  but  they  are 
rare.  There  are  some  people  that  can  trust  God 
about  everything,  but  their  soul's  salvation. 


* 

WHEN  a  hunter  goes  out  to  hunt,  he  seldom  finds 
all  that  he  hits.  But  going  about  the  woods  the 
next  day,  he  finds  here  a  buck,  there  a  turkey,  and 
something  else  elsewhere.  "  Ah !"  he  says,  "  I 
thought  I  brought  down  more  game  than  I  found 
yesterday.  Here  it  is  now."  As  I  go  about  the 
country  lecturing,  I  am  so  frequently  being  met  by 
persons  who  say  to  me,  shaking  my  hand :  "  I  was 
converted  among  you.  -I  have  reason  to  know 
YOU,  though  you  don't  know  ME,"  that  I  am  begin 
ning  to  feel  that,  on  these  jaunts,  I  only  go  a  little 
wider  into  my  own  field  of  jurisdiction.  Lately  I 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         287 

was  struck  by  the  gratitude  and  humility  of  a 
mother  whose  son  came  last  winter  to  New  York. 
With  parting  injunctions  and  prayers,  the  mother 
very  earnestly  warned  her  boy  to  keep  out  of  dan 
gerous  places ;  and,  especially  to  be  sure  and  not  go 
near  that  wicked  place,  Henry  Ward  Beecher's 
church.  She  made  this  sucli  a  particular  object  of 
her  caution,  that,  of  course,  the  young  man  came. 
He  was  converted,  and  returned  to  his  mother  so 
changed,  that  she,  too,  was  converted.  When  I 
was  there,  she,  from  gratitude,  had  gone  over  as  far 
one  way,  as  she  had  "been  the  other ;  and  was  feel 
ing  very  bad  to  think  she  had  judged  ill  of  one, 
who,  since  he  was  the  instrument  of  her  dear  son's 
conversion,  must  be  so  very  good  a  man."  I  do 
feel  that  the  influence  of  this  church  is  wide. 
There  will  hardly  be,  ere  long,  a  town  in  the  land 
that  will  not  have  branches  from  us.  How  humble 
and  how  careful  ought  they  who  exert  BO  wide- 
spreading  an  influence  to  be. 


WHEN  I  dig  a  man  out  of  trouble,  the  hole  that 
he  leaves  behind  him  is  the  grave  where  I  bury 
my  own  trouble. 

THERE  are  some  assertions  of  Scripture  which 
imply  high  attainments  in  the  whole  round  of 


288         LIVING   WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

Christian  character.  "  If  any  man  offend  not  in 
word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man  ;"•  that  is,  if  a  man 
has  obtained  that  self-command  which  shall  enable 
him  never  to  say  a  wrong  thing,  the  battle  with 
him  is  nearly  over.  He  may  reckon  it  already  won. 


"  GOD  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,"  etc.  The  life  and  death  of  Christ 
was  but  the  working  out  of  the  love  of  God.  The 
affection  and  the  yearning  of  heart  towards  his 
erring  creatures,  was  just  the  same  in  God  before 
Christ  came,  that  Christ  showed  it  to  be  while  he 
was  on  earth.  It  is  just  the  same  still.  There  is  no 
change  in  God,  or  in  his  love.  Man,  nor  woman, 
need  fear  disappointment  there.  It  has  been  the 
custom  of  some,  a  custom  too  much  prevailing,  to 
represent  God  as  being  under  no  manner  of  obliga 
tion  to  do  anything  for  his  creatures  after  they  had 
broken  his  law.  The  trouble  with  this  statement  is 
that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  it ;  and  yet  it 
has  been  made  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  a  very 
wrong  impression.  In  God's  own  nature  there  is 
a  necessity  for  his  efforts  for  man's  redemption. 
Where  is  the  earthly  father,  worthy  to  bear  the 
name,  who  would  not  feel  that  it  was  as  much  his 
duty  as  his  desire  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  restore  to 
the  paths  of  honor  and  honesty  a  child  who  had 
fallen  ?  And,  shall  we  imagine  that  God,  the  Infi- 


LIVING   WORDS   FEOM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         289 

nite  Father,  is  under  less  obligations  to  do  good  to 
the  creatures  he  has  made  than  we  are  ?  or  that  the 
laws  by  which  his  nature  are  governed  are  directly 
the  reverse  of  those  which  he  has  imprinted  in  our 
souls  ?     "  God  is  so  great !"  say  some ;  and  they 
hold  up  that  greatness — sincerely  desiring  to  show 
forth  his   praise,   though   mistaken   in   the    thing 
wherein  lies  his  greatest  glory — not  till  they  seat 
him  on  a  throne  so  high  that  no  man  can  touch 
even  its  base ;  till  they  cut  him  entirely  off  from 
man's  sympathy.     They  say  he  might  have  justly 
let  the  world  alone,  after  its  revolt,  and  have  con 
cerned  himself  no  more  about  it ;  and  they  declare 
the  love  and  mercy  which  refused  to  do  so,  past 
finding  out — a  mystery  of  love  at  which  mortals 
should  forever  wonder  and  adore.    Yes,  he  might 
have  let  his  rebels  alone,  in  such  a  way  that  there 
would  have  been  no  propagation  of  the  condemned 
and  hopeless  race  ;  but  that  he  did  not  do  this,  can 
any   heart  that  is  a  parent's  marvel?     Man  can 
understand  God,  when  God  has  given,  in  his  own 
breast,  the  key  which  can  unlock  his  mysteries — 
made  in  the  image  of  God. 

God  is  great !  but  in  proportion  to  his  greatness 
is  his  love,  and  his  obligation  to  do  good.  £To 
being  in  the  wide  universe  is  so  marked  out  and 
belted  around  with  "  ought " — with  obligations  to 
rectitude,  as  is  the  Almighty. 

13 


290        LIVING    WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

Because  he  is  mighty  and  high  is  not  the  reason 
why  he  has  a  right  to  make  conditions,  and  mark 
out  the  bounds  of  men — but  because  his  wisdom 
and  his  goodness  are  so  great.  It  is  for  their  own 
sake,  as  well  as  for  his,  that  God  would  have  men 
serve  him  ;  for  all  good  and  all  happiness  are  inevi 
tably  connected  with  his  service.  This  is  in  the 
nature  of  things.  He  loves  every  one  of  us  with  a 
warmer  and  heartier  love  than  that  which  it  is  pos 
sible  for  the  fondest  of  our  human  friends  to  feel  for 
us ;  and  all  his  desires  and  all  his  commands  are  for 
our  eternal  good.  His  help  is  so  often  promised 
that  men  have  got  an  idea  that  it  is  some  nearly 
impossible  thing  one  has  to  do  in  order  to  become 
a  Christian  ;  but  this  is  wrong.  The  help  that  we 
need  is  already  with  each  one  of  us.  In  every 
man's  hand  God  hath  put  a  price  with  which  to  get 
wisdom,  and  if  he  does  not  obtain  it,  he  will  have 
none  but  himself  to  blame.  We  are  asked  to  do 
nothing  but  what  we  can  do,  and  do  do  every  day, 
only  not  towards  God.  Who  does  not  often  feel 
the  sense  of  guilt  ?  Who  is  there  that  has  not  often 
regretted  a  wrong  act  ?  Who  is  there  that  has  not 
faith  in  things  unseen  ?  Who  is  there  that  has  no 
power  to  love  that  which  is  lovely  ? 

My  hearers,  if  it  should  be  that  any  of  you  stand 
unfriended  at  the  judgment,  unclothed  and  shiver 
ing  before  the  Judge,  it  will  not  be  his  voice  alone 


LIVING   WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH  PULPIT.        291 

that  you  will  hear  pronouncing  sentence  against 
you.  Your  own  understanding,  your  own  conscience 
and  social  affections,  even  your  own  worldly  wisdom, 
will  cry  out  that  your  ruin  was  needless,  that  it  was 
only  because  you  would  not  that  you  was  not  saved. 


THE  more  refined  and  elevated  men  are,  the  more 
sensitive  are  they — the  more  is  expected  from  them. 
A  thing  that  you  would  pass  without  notice  in  a 
low,  ignorant  person,  you  would  expect  and  de 
mand  apology  for  in  a  person  higher  on  the  social 
plane.  Man,  as  well  a&  God,  exacts  from  man 
according  to  that  which  he  hath. 


THE  present  time  with  men,  is  as  the  sight  of  a 
rifle.  They  look  through  it  to  see  what  is  before 
them. 


CHANGES  of  motive  and  purpose  are  often  in 
stantaneous  ;  but  it  may  take  years  to  get  all  the 
conduct  in  exact  agreement  with  that  changed 
mind.  Suppose  that  the  men  on  board  a  pirate 
vessel  began  to  falter  in  their  purpose,  and  to  talk 
to  each  other  about  becoming  honest  seamen.  By 
and  by,  having  consulted  all  but  the  captain,  they 
conclude  to  refer  the  whole  matter  to  him ;  and  if 


292        LIVING   WORDS   FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

he   consents   they  will    all    abandon    the   life  of 
pirates. 

They  surround  their  captain,  and  make  known  to 
him  their  thoughts.  "  The  whole  thing  depends  on 
you,  captain ;  what  do  you  say  ?" 

The  captain  thinks  and  thinks — he  shakes  his 
head.  "I  don't  know,  boys,  about  this.  If  we  be 
gin  to  be  honest  men,  we  must  hold  out  so ;  and 
perhaps  we  can't.  And  then  we  may  get  caught 
and  punished  for  what  we  have  done.  Still,  I  don't 
know.  I  guess  we  will  give  up  this  way  of  life — we 
— I  suppose  we  had  better  decide  to  do  so — we  witt." 

It  was  done — at  that  instant  the  men  had  ceased 
to  be  pirates.  True,  the  black  flag  still  swung  from 
their  mast ;  the  last  blood  was  hardly  washed  from 
their  decks ;  they  had  been  "fitted  out  to  attack  and 
plunder  the  West  Indian  islands;  and  they  were 
still  full  of  the  implements  of  death.  But  no  mat 
ter,  they  were  no  longer  pirates,  any  more  than 
when  they  had  pulled  down  the  flag,  cast  away 
their  weapons,  and  entered  upon  their  lawful  voyage. 


THE  Lord's  Prayer  stops  at  "deliver  us  from 
evil."  The  doxology,  though  excellent,  is  gener 
ally  admitted  to  be  an  interpolation.  Who  may 
pray  ?  May  the  Christian  ?  certainly.  It  has  been 
considered  that  prayer  was  a  privilege  peculiarly 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        293 

that  of  the  saint.  This  is  an  error.  Whoever  has 
a  want,  may  pray.  Has  not  the  man  in  the  fire 
or  in  the  flood,  a  right  to  cry  out  for  help,  regard 
less  of  his  character  ?  "What !  may  the  sinner  ad 
dress  God?  Well,  if  "the  sinner"  may  not,  who 
in  this  wide  world  may  ?  But  "  the  sacrifice  of  the 
wicked  is  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,"  says  Scrip 
ture.  That  passage  has  been  wrested  till  it  has 
been  made  the  means  of  the  loss  of  many  souls ;  it 
has  gone  up  and  down  the  earth,  destroying  like  a 
sword.  It  is  the  hypocritical  sacrifice  that  God 
abhors.  No  earnest  heart-sent  cry  is  displeasing  to 
him.  When  a  man  who  would  twist  his  neighbor's 
neck  for  gain,  or  who  for  it  would  thrust  his  arm 
up  to  the  shoulder  in  blood,  who  loves  >nd  means 
to  continue  in  the  indulgence  of  riot,  uncleanliness 
and  wassail,  makes  his  sacrifice,  or  offers  his  prayer 
for  the  sake  of  covering  his  real  character ;  or,  say 
ing  in  his,  heart,  "  There !  I  hope  that's  enough  to 
keep  me  safe  " — that  is  the  abomination  of  which 
the  Bible  speaks. 

How  should  men  pray?  If  any  man  can  best 
approach  God,  and  open  his  heart  to  him  by  means 
of  prearranged  prayers,  in  God's  name,  allow  him 
to  use  them.  But  the  spontaneous  utterance  of 
thought,  feeling  and  desire  is  best  suited  for 
specific  cases.  Printed  prayers  are  generic. 

By  his  conduct  and  his  relations,  Christ  taught 


294        LIVING    WOKDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

that  it  was  God's  pleasure  to  be  taken  firm  hold  of 

by  the  soul  in  prayer.     He  taught  us  plainly  that 

there   are  some  things  which  he  will  give  to  his 

children  if  they  will  plead  for  them  long  enough, 

and  with  sufficient  intensity  of  desire,  and  which 

otherwise  they  shall  not  have.     He    enjoined   it 

upon  us  that  in  prayer  we  should  be,  to  the  last 

degree,  earnest,  constant,  and   importunate.      But 

God  wants  no  man  to  make  watch-preparation  for 

communion  with  him.     Don't  look  at  your  watch, 

and  say,  "  It's  noon,  or  it's  six  o'clock — I  must  go 

and  pray — whether  you've  anything  to  say  or  not. 

Some  men  pray  three  times  a  day ;  they  have  three 

regular  hours.     If  this  suits  their  case  let  them  do 

it.     Others  pray  regular  oral  prayers  but  once  a 

day.    There  are  some  birds  that  sing  when  the  sun 

rises,  and  then  they  are  done  for  that  day.     All 

Christians   ought  to   be   much  in  prayer.     They 

should   even  in   secret  pray  with   the  «voice — for 

the  voice  helps  to  fix  the  thoughts;   and  no  man 

will  ever  grow  much  in  the  grace  of  praying  who 

prays  in  his  heart  only.     Social  prayer   also  is  a 

duty  and  a  benefit  to  the  Christian  ;  but,  above  all 

things,  let  them  strive  to  be  sincere,  simple,  and 

natural  in  prayer.     Faults  of  manner  in  addressing 

God  are  not   confined  to  young   converts — if  so, 

there  would  be  more  prospect  of  having  them  all 

corrected.     The  young  should  beware  of  falling 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         295 

into  these  faults.  Don't  allow  yourself  to  have 
a  praying  tone,  one  much  higher  or  lower  than 
that  which  is  natural  to  you.  The  moment  I  hear 
a  man  go  up  or  down  an  octave  in  his  voice,  I  am 
left  an  octave  behind.  Then  some  men's  voices 
have  a  roll,  they  have  a  swinging  undulation  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea.  All  this  is  very  unpleasant 
— even  revolting  to  refined  taste. 

When  young  Christians  complain  to  me  that 
their  thoughts  wander  in  their  devotions,  I  tell 
them  that  they  pray  too  much.  Pray  often,  but 
not  too  long  at  a  time.  I  have  heard  very  stam 
mering,  staggering  prayers — prayers  that  broke 
down  in  the  middle,  that  were  yet  real,  living 
prayers.  Far  better  are  such  than  those  whose 
composition  is  perfect,  but  in  which  words  have 
outrun  feeling.  All  the  first  troubles  in  regard  to 
this  intercourse  and  confidence  with  God  will  pass, 
and,  by  and  by,  the  Christian  who  really  desires 
it,  will  come  to  live,  as  it  were,  in  a  perpetual 
prayer.  He  will  walk  through  the  days  with  a 
consciousness  that  he  is  "  naked  and  open  before 
him  with  whom  he  has  to  do,"  and  he  will  rejoice 
in  that  consciousness.  Every  new  event,  every 
new  emotion  of  his  life  will  be  with  him  an  impulse 
towards  God.  He  must  tell  it  there.  His  confi 
dences  and  his  warmest  gushes  of  feeling  are  con 
tinually  lifting  themselves  up  to  the  being  of  his 


296        LIVING   WOKDS   FROM    PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

supreme  love  and  reverence ;  and  this  is  to  "  pray 
without  ceasing."  When  the  heart  of  man  attains 
unto  this  state,  he  can  no  more  be  left  comfortless 
or  alone,  though  the  grave  hide  all  who  love  him, 
and  though  a  dungeon  shut  him  from  the  light  of  day. 
You  will  frequently  need  some  preparation  for 
prayer.  When  a  man  is  full  of  the  fretting  cares 
of  business ;  sore,  smarting,  tormented  by  the 
untoward  events  of  the  day,  he  often  feels  that  he 
is  in  an  unfit  state  to  enjoy  communion  with  his 
Maker.  The  mind  needs  some  relief  before  it  can 
settle  itself  to  prayer.  With  me  music  is  one  of 
the  best  aids  here.  One  deep  and  solemn  strain  of 
music  is  enough  to  separate  as  far  between  me  and 
any  past  state  of  mind,  as  the  Red  Sea  separated 
between  Pharaoh  and  the  Israelites. 


*  O,  GOD  !  we  know  not  what  life  in  heaven  is ; 
nor  what  disposition  is  made  of  occupation  there ; 
but  we  know  that  whatever  here  is  most  bright, 
whatever    is    most    beautiful    and    lovely,    what 
ever   is   most   delightful  in  experience  and   most 
pleasing  in  sensation,  is  used  to  excite  our  imagina 
tion  of  the  joys  that  await  thy  children,  and  that 
after  all  these  things  are  exhausted  we  are  told 
that  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be. 

*  The  following  passages  are  from  prayers  by  Mr.  Beecher, 


LIVING   WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        297 

How  long,  O,  Lord!  how  long?  Since  thou 
wentest  up  into  heaven,  hast  thou  forgotten  the 
earth  ? 

Givest  thou  no  more  heed  to  the  voice  of  her 
groaning? 

For  eighteen  hundred  years,  since  thy  departure, 
she  has  swung  round  about  thy  throne,  uttering, 
evermore  her  cries  of  bitterness  and  pain.  Is  it  not 
enough '(  Oh !  hear  the  wail  of  nature,  and  come, 
Lord  Jesus,  come  guickly. 

Thy  coming,  and  that  alone,  can  redeem  us. 
And  when  thou  art  here,  the  waters  of  bitterness 
will  all  be  turned  to  sweetness ;  and  the  song  of 
earth,  as  she  swings  in  her  ^rbit,  shall  be  like  the 
melody  of  heaven. 

Our  Father,  we  love  thee,  though  we  so  often 
grieve  thee.  Our  God,  our  Saviour,  we  desire  to 
walk  in  thy  love ;  why  do  our  feet  so  constantly 
falter  ? 

Oh!  come  unto  us,  and  possess  us  in  every 
faculty  of  our  souls.  Abide  with  us,  thou  Heavenly 
Guest,  and  so  draw  us  that  we  turn  from  thee  no 
more. 

When  we  look  abroad  into  the  world,  and  see 
what  a  place  it  is ;  see  how  full  it  is  of  jangling 
and  selfishness ;  of  violence,  of  passion  and  blood ; 
thy  Fatherhood,  and  our  brotherhood  unacknow 
ledged,  and  men  everywhere  at  strife.  And  when 

13* 


•;. 

298        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

we  look  within,  and  see  the  evil  there  :  the  lurking 
enemies,  crouching  in  secret  places,  waiting  for  us 
to  lie  down  in  slumber,  or  to  ungird  our  armor  for 
a  moment's  rest,  that  they  may  spring  out  and 
assassinate  us,  we  are  ready  to  sink  down  in  despair, 
and  cry  out  that  all  is  lost,  and:  that  thou  hast 
indeed  forsaken  us.  But  we  know  that  thou  art 
not  gone — that  thou  art  not  afar  off,  and  that  thou 
dost  regard  the  cry  of  thy  children. 

Then,  hear  us  now,  O,  God !  while  we  reach 
out  after  thee,  and  are  sick  for  want  of  thee.  Come 
unto  us  with  healing,  and  speak  comfortable  things 
unto  us,  and  hasten  the  salvation  of  the  world. 


WHEN  the  clouds  are  over  us  so  black  that  those 
who  know  thee  not,  see  in  them  only  wrath  and 
•destruction,  may  we,  looking  up,  behold  and  know 
that  thou  art  near,  and  that  we  are  only  standing  in 
the  twilight  of  the  shadow  of  our  God. 


MAY  we  be  over-arched  by  our  faith  in  Thee ; 
may  we  stand  under  it  as  our  shadow  and  protec 
tion  from  all  the  storms,  and  sins,  and  woes  of  life. 


WHILE  we  walk  through  the  places  of  crucifixion 
here,  may  the  thought  of  our  Father's  home  sustain 
us. 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT.         299 

Is  our  home  indeed  awaiting  as  ?  Art  thou  look 
ing  upon  us  with  yearning,  and  thinking  that  the 
time  draws  near  when  thou  mayest  call  us  to  thine 
arms  ?  Dost  thou  love  us,  and  long  for  us,  oh !  our 
God  ?  for  us,  so  full  of  all  unquietness  and  unclean- 
ness,  so  barren  of  all  loveliness. 

"  Oh !  teach  us  the  meaning  of  that  word 
"  Love."  Teach  us,  too,  that  with  thee  it  means 
not  less,  but  more  than  it  does  in  the  truest  and 
warmest  human  heart — that  our  love  is  as  the 
brook,  shallow  and  denied,  while  thine  is  as  the 
ocean  flowing  to  meet  the  brook,  and  swallowing 
up  all  its  impurity  as  though  it  had  not  been. 

May  the  thought  of  thy  tenderness  and  pity  give 
us  courage.  May  it  not  encourage  us  to  think  sin 
less  dreadful,  but  cause  us  to  hate  and  shun  it 
more ;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  all  our  oft  falling  and  fail 
ing,  to  take  comfort  in  thee ;  and  to  struggle,  not 
from  fear,  and  to  escape  thy  frown,  but  with  a  great 
yearning  to  get  upward  nearer  and  nearer  to  thy 
smile. 

May  the  thought  of  thy  love  make  sin  more  hate 
ful  and  fearful  to  us  than  all  the  thunderings  of 
conscience  ever  did ;  and  may  it  look  even  blacker 
while  we  feel  the  throbbings  of  thy  divine  pity, 
than  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  thy  pure  and  per 
fect  law. 

Our  Father,  may  grieving  thee    be    the    one 


300         LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

terror  of  our  lives.  Teach  us  how  to  love  each 
other,  and  how,  hating  all  sin,  to  have  mercy 
on  the  sinner,  even  as  thou  dost.  Look  not  upon 
our  sins,  nor  enter  into  judgment  against  us,  for 
which  of  us  could  stand  one  moment  before  thee  ? 


WHEN  we  are  alone  and  desolate  —  forsaken  of  all 
that  makes  life  dear,  be  not  thou  afar  off.  Be  near 
us,  0  Thou  who  canst  make  thyself  so  much  more 
unto  us  than  parents,  or  brother,  or  sister,  or  hus 
band,  or  wife,  or  lover,  or  friend  :  for  these  are  but 
sparks  struck  out  from  thee.  They  are  only  names, 
which,  gathered  and  grouped  together,  mean  God. 


To  trust  in  human  love  is  often  to  be  pierced  as 
with  thorns ;  to  lean  on  human  faithfulness  is  to  feel 
the  broken  shaft  enter  our  side ;  but  no  man  ever 
trusted  in  Thy  love  and  found  it  grow  cold  towards 
him  ;  no  heart  ever  yearned  towards  Thee,  and 
stayed  itself  upon  Thee,  and  found  Thee  unfaithful 
or  unkind. 


WE  pray  Thee  that  Thou  wilt  give  us  grace  to 
bear  with  the  troubles  that  are  in  our  daily  life. 
What  are  we  that  we  should  ask  to  go  crowned 
with  joy  when  all  through  the  world  there  is  so 


LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        301 

much  sorrow  ?  We  pray  thee  not  so  much  to  take 
away  our  burdens,  not  so  much  to  lift  from  us  the 
cross,  or  to  pluck  away  the  thorns,  as  to  show  us  how 
patiently  and  lovingly  to  bear  them. 

Our  days  are  passing ;  O  God !  that  dwellest 
where  they  sing  who  have  done  with  weeping ;  they 
whom  we  buried  with  tears  and  anguish,  but  whom 
thou  didst  raise  again  with  gladness  and  everlasting 
exaltation ;  and  hast  given  them  so  much  more  and 
better  than  we,  in  our  largest  and  most  ardent 
desires,  know  how  to  ask  for  them,  that  they,  look 
ing  down  from  their  glorious  exaltation,  see  immea 
surably  below  them  the  dust  that  we  have  named 
as  blessings ;  when  it  shall  be  our  turn  to  hear  that 
call  which  men  name  "  death,"  may  we,  waking  as 
children  called  by  mother's  voice  at  morning,  see 
bending  above  us  thy  face  of  eternal  beauty  and 
infinite  love,  and  feel  beneath  us  thine  everlasting 
arms,  and  break  into  the  first  notes  of  that  rap 
turous  song  which  shall  not  cease,  with  our  head 
upon  thy  bosom. 

BE  with  and  bless  our  friends,  wherever  they  are. 
Scattered  abroad  in  the  earth,  they  are  toiling,  each 
with  his  duties  and  his  burdens,  and  his  wearing 
sorrows.  We  would  fain  gather  them  in  the  bosom 
of  our  love,  O  Lord !  and  there  shelter  and  give 
them  consolation ;  but  it  cannot  be  ;  for  our  hearts 


302         LIVING    WORDS    FKOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

are  filled  with  their  own  burdens  and  sorrows,  and 
they  are  powerless  to  bear  even  these  alone — how 
then  shall  we  help  our  brothers ;  but  what  is  OUT 
love  and  pity  when  compared  with  thine  ?  And,  are 
they  not  all  beneath,  the  shadow ;  nay,  in  the  sun 
shine  of  thy  care  ?  and  canst  thou,  without  whom 
not  a  sparrow's  strength  faileth,  permit  any  heart 
that  stays  itself  on  thee  to  be  broken  by  its  trouble  ? 
Thou  wilt  never  leave  us  nor  forsake  us ;  and  they 
that  are  ours  by  love  are  parts  of  our  own  soul,  and 
the  promise  and  the  covenant  is  for  them  also. 
Therefore,  O  our  God !  we  commit  those  united  to 
us,  yet,  by  space,  divided  from  us,  into  thy  faithful 
and  tender  keeping,  and  we  know  that  they  are 
safe. 


OUE*  souls  rejoice,  O  Thou  blessed  one !  when 
we  feel  ourselves  drawn  towards  Thee,  for  it  is  not 
in  us  to  rise ;  and  when  our  thoughts  are  all  tending 
with  sweet  affection  towards  heaven,  we  know  that 
there  have  been  solicitations,  and  that  God  hath 
yearned  for  us,  and  hath  sent  forth  ministering  in 
fluences  to  waken  love,  and  lift  our  souls  towards 
him.  And  as  the  sun  doth  draw  up  all  vapors,  and 
wreathe  the  mountain  tops  therewith,  so  in  Thy 

*  A  Prayer  from  a  Phonographic  Report  in  the  American  Pulpit, 
by  Prof.  Henry  Fowler. 


LIVING    WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.         303 

high  and  holy  place — yea,  towards  Mount  Zion 
above,  Thou,  with  sweet  and  blessed  looking,  dost 
draw  our  affections ;  and  our  hearts  to-day  exhale 
towards  Thee. 

For  though  we  have  not  seen  Thee,  we  know 
Thee,  Thou  mighty  one  !  Though  we  have  never 
beheld  Thee  in  outward  form  and  guise,  our  hearts 
have  taken  hold  upon  Thee. 

The  hand  that  was  pierced  for  us  hath  never  been 
laid  upon  us  in  our  path ;  nor  have  those  sacred 
wounded  feet  crossed  our  threshold  ;  but  that  heart, 
that  mind  of  Thine,  the  soul  of  God,  hath  crossed 
the  threshold  of  our  dwellings ;  and  with  our  hearts, 
full  often,  we  have  had  communion  with  Thee,  as 
friend  with  friend. 

And  in  the  times  of  darkness,  and  of  temptation, 
we  have  wrestled  with  Thee,  even  as  the  Patriarch 
of  old,  and  thou  hast  given  us  victories,  which  the 
tongue  may  not  mention,  but  which  the  heart  will 
think  of  with  joy  and  everlasting  gratitude. 

In  times  when  affliction  seemed  to  dissolve  us — 
when  our  heart  was  as  fruit  about  to  drop  from  the 
bough,  when  there  was  no  more  strength  by  which 
to  lay  hold  upon  life,  thou  hast  come,  Thou  blessed 
one !  and  given  us  strength  again  to  lay  hold  on 
life,  and  to  be  happy  in  life,  and  to  rise  above  the 
darkness  of  personal  distress,  and  the  struggle  and 
the  conflict  of  immingled  evils.  "We  have  been 


304:        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH  .PULPIT. 

fearful  of  dangers  ;  but  afterwards  Thou  hast  made 
us  to  laugh,  as  children  laugh  when  alarmed  and 
then  looking  back,  see  that  it  was  but  the  shaking 
of  a  leaf.  And  when  things  have  seemed  to  settle 
around  us  in  darkness,  and  troubles  have  come 
thick  upon  us,  Thou  hast  lifted  us  up,  and  put  our 
feet  upon  a  rock,  where  no  tide  could  reach  us  and 
no  wave  could  dash  against  us,  and  no  Hood  could 
sweep  with  destroying  eddies  about  us,  to  unsettle 
our  peace,  or  do  us  harm  in  thought  or  feeling. 

And  we  have  been  made  masters  that  before 
were  servants  to  our  circumstances.  We  have 
been  able  to  stand  undaunted  and  to  beat  back 
troubles  that  came  upon  us.  Thou  hast  lifted  us  up 
from  sorrows,  from  violence,  from  unexpected  evil. 
When  periods  of  dismay  have  come  drifting  in  upon 
us  like  diffused  mist,  cold  and  chill — those  days  of 
doubt  when  we  could  see  nothing,  when  the  pall  of 
silence  lay  upon  everything,  then,  likewise,  Thou 
hast  manifested  thyself  unto  us.  Thou  hast  given 
us,  at  last,  a  sweet  patience  to  stand  still,  and 
to  wait ;  and  we  have  found  that  waiting  by 
thy  side  is  better  than  running  alone ;  and  that  to 
be  empty  and  weak,  for  Christ's  sake,  is  better  than 
to  be  full  for  our  own  sake. 

We  rejoice  that  Thou  hast,  in  a  thousand  ways, 
manifested  thyself  to  us  in  all  the  desires  and  yearn 
ings  of  our  hearts.  We  have  looked  out  upon  life 


LIVING   WOKD8   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        305 

sometimes  with  joy,  and  then  with  a  sweet  sadness, 
because,  after  all,  there  was  so  little  in  it  that  its 
brightness  grew  dim  almost  before  it  flashed  its 
brightness  forth ;  and  we  have  been  glad  of 
it. 

We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  addressed  thy 
self  to  us  by  our  nobler  thoughts,  and  redeemed 
the  world  from  emptiness  and  given  it  back  to  us 
when  we  have  yielded  it  to  Thee,  crowned  and 
glorified.  Thou  hast  made  the  things  that  are 
round  about  us — the  very  flowers  that  perish — the 
leaves  that  wither  and  drop  away,  the  changes  of 
the  season — to  be  the  teachers  and  Thy  preachers 
to  our  souls. 

But  these  things  alone  do  not  content  us;  for 
they  are  things  of  the  lower  life,  and  we  have 
yearned  for  that  which  we  have  not.  We  have  had 
divine  incitements ;  we  have  had  blessed  inspira 
tions  ;  when  all  that  we  knew  seemed  so  fragment 
ary,  and  all  that  we  were  so  exceedingly  little  and 
less  than  fragmentary ;  when  we  have  felt  that  our 
affections  were  so  cold  and  ignoble ;  when  from  a 
thought  of  our  own  ungratefulness  and  selfishness 
and  pride,  we  have  turned  to  the  bright  vision  of 
thy  love — so  sweet,  so  lasting,  so  deep,  so  gentle, 
so  delicate  beyond  all  expression  from  human 
tongue ;  when  we  have  seemed  to  ourselves  to  be 
so  coarse,  so  low,  so  ignoble,  that  we  scarcely  could 


306        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

lift  up  our  eyes  unto  Thee.  But  Thou,  O  blessed 
one !  hast  been  pleased  to  look  upon  us  out  of  the 
brightness  and  radiance  of  thine  own  perfections. 
Out  of  the  depth  and  purity  and  sweetness  of 
Thine  own  love,  Thou  hast  looked  forgivingly  upon 
our  rudeness,  and  our  hollowness,  our  pride,  our 
selfishness,  our  jealousy ;  and  hast  uttered  to  our 
souls  promises  that  we  should  not  always  be  thus 
— that  if  we  would  have  faith  Thou  wouldst 
have  patience  ;  and  that  Thou  wouldst  bring  us  on 
ward  and  upward,  step  by  step,  shining  brighter 
and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day. 

Lord  Jesus,  Thou  wilt  not  forsake  one  word  Thou 
hast  ever  uttered.  Thou  wilt  not  betray  one  single 
hope  or  expectation  in  our  hearts  which  Thou  hast 
ever  suggested ;  and  all  which  Thou  hast  promised 
Thou  wilt  not  only  do,  but  exceeding  abundantly 
more.  Thou  wilt  outrun  our  most  fruitful  con 
ceptions  ;  Thou  wilt  be  more  gentle  than  our  heart 
has  felt  in  its  most  raptured  moments ;  Thou  wilt 
be  more  patient  than  our  utmost  conceptions  of 
patience  ;  Thou  wilt  be  more  full  of  love  and  good 
ness  than  our  loftiest  aspirations. 

We  rejoice  that  there  is  in  Thee  such  infinite 
goodness,  and  such  height,  and  length,  and 
breadth,  and  depth  of  mercy. 

Still,  we  are  not  willing  to  be  sinful,  or  low,  or 
ignorant,  or  poor,  because  of  Thy  goodness ;  though 


LIVING  WORDS   FEOM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT.        307 

we  have  a  strange  wonder  of  gladness  that  we  are 
weak,  because  it  sets  forth  to  us  such  glories  in 
Thee,  thou  nourishing  God  !  patient  with  us,  as  a 
nurse  is  patient  with  her  children  ! 

Yea  !  Thou  hast  thyself  declared  that  the  mother 
shall  forget  her  nursing  child  sooner  than  Thou  wilt 
forget  those  whom  Thou  dost  love.  We  take  the 
promise  that  is  in  Thy  declarations  and  we  set  it 
against  the  darkness  of  time  and  trouble,  and 
weighing  down  of  heart  with  sadness,  and  we  lift 
ourselves  by  this  divine  help  above  them  all. 
When  we  stand  under  the  darkest  cloud,  we  see 
the  bow  of  promise,  and  we  know  that  God  will 
not  suffer  the  soul  that  loves  him  to  be  over 
whelmed  by  any  deluge. 

And  now  may  we  have  these  bright  days  more 
frequently,  so  that  their  shining  may  cast  a  twi 
light  into  the  dark  days  that  intervene.  As  they 
that  watch  in  the  night  shall  behold  the  glow 
ing  light  of  morning  reaching  up  the  hillsides, 
mounting  the  highest  cliffs,  and  coming  down  into 
the  valleys  beyond,  so  mayest  thou  who  watchest 
for  us,  see  that  the  light  of  hope  and  the  glory  of 
God  is  more  and  more  perfectly  enwrapping  our 
whole  experience.  For  it  is  Thy  work,  blessed 
Saviour  ;  we  are  being  fashioned  by  Thy  hand,  and 
for  thy  sake,  as  well  as  for  our  own.  Thou  art  yet 
to  present  us  spotless  before  the  throne  of  Thy 


308        LIVING   WORDS   FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT. 

Father,  and  heaven  is  to  resound  with  acclamations 
for  our  sake,  and  for  Thy  sake. 

Thou,  Lord  Jesus !  thou  who  art  mighty  over  all 
things,  and  with  whom  we  are  fellow-heirs,  we 
rejoice  that  in  all  the  things  that  we  ask  for  our 
selves  there  is  also  thine  own  interest,  and  thine 
own  glory  and  joy  enwrapped  ! 

Now,  we  beseech  of  Thee  that  Thou  wilt  speak 
peaceably  unto  every  heart  in  Thy  presence  this 
morning,  according  to  our  various  necessity.  If 
there  be  those  here  that  do  not  know  their  own 
trouble,  but  only  know  that  they  are  troubled — 
Thou  knowest,  and  thou  canst  enter  in,  and  make 
the  darkest  chamber  of  their  heart  serene  with 
light  and  peace.  We  beseech  of  Thee  that  thou 
wilt  sustain  those  who  are  bearing  the  pressure  of 
affliction.  Thou  thyself  didst  bear  affliction  for 
them.  Thou  wert  acquainted  with  grief.  And 
may  they  look  up,  while  their  tears  flow,  into  the 
face  of  Him  who  wept,  who  lived,  who  suffered, 
who  died  for  them  and  for  their  consolation. 

Grant  Thy  blessings  to  those  who  are  suffering 
the  bafflings  and  trials  of  poverty.  Lord,  are  they 
poorer  than  thou  wert,  who  hadst  not  where  to  ]ay 
thy  head?  Yet,  so  far  as  is  consistent  with  their 
good,  alleviate  their  trouble ;  raise  them  up  friends 
and  comforts  of  life. 

Bless  all  those  that  are  tried  in  their  worldly 


LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH   PULPIT,.         309 

affairs ;  who,  whatever  way  they  turn,  find  fears 
prevailing.  Will  the  Lord  be  gracious  unto  them 
that  they  may  not  think  their  life  consisteth  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  they  possess.  May 
they  feel  that  the  things  of-  this  life  and  all  the 
troubles  that  harass  it  pass  quickly  away ;  and  may 
they  also  feel  that  they  are  not  in  any  wise  ruined, 
or  overturned.  May  they  lay  up  their  treasures 
where  no  misfortunes  may  ever  assail.  May  they 
believe  in  Him  who  is  rich  beyond  all  bankruptcy. 
"We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  be  very  near  to 
all  that  are  in  doubt  of  mind,  and  are  perplexed  in 
their  thoughts  and  belief  of  things  religious.  Do 
Thou  teach  them  the  greatest  of  all  truth — how  to 
love  God,  and  how  to  diffuse  that  love  upon  men. 
And  may  they,  at  last,  find  encouragement  in  this, 
that  Thou  art  their  God. 

We  beseech  of  Thee,  that  to  all  those  who  are  in 
the  trust  of  this  life's  prosperities,  who  are  sur 
rounded  with  friends  and  comforts,  and  who  have 
been  blessed  abundantly,  Thou  wilt  grant  humil 
ity,  that  they  may  not  become  proud,  nor  hard 
and  unfeeling  towards  those  who  are  less  successful 
and  skillful  than  they ;  and  by  so  much  as  they  are 
above  them,  may  they  see  to  it  not  only  that  they 
use  their  goods,  but  also  their  hearts  and  minds  for 
the  benefit  of  their  fellow-men. 

Be  near  to  strangers  in  our  midst,  whose  hearts 


310         LIVING   WORDS    FROM   PLYMOUTH    PULPIT. 

yearn  for  those  who  have  been  wont  to  worship 
with  them.  Will  the  Lord  bring  them  by  faith 
very  near.  And  as  they  meet  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  may  they  consciously  be  united  to  all  who 
love  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  whom  they  love. 

Diffuse  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  over  all  the 
earth.  May  slavery  cease ;  may  war  cease ;  may 
intemperance  cease ;  may  justice  reign,  and  love 
upon  justice;  and  may  the  whole  earth  be  filled 
with  the  glory  of  God  I  We  ask  it  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen. 


-.•'••i   ' 
f    * 


Copies   gent  by   Jflail  post  paid   on   recipt   of  price. 


INCLUDING  HIS  CHOICE   WORKS. 

BY  D.  A.  HAKSHA,  A.M. 

In  one  neat  12 mo.  volume,  Price  $1  25. 


From  the  New  York  Evangelist. 

Me»rs.  Derby  &  Jackson  have  commenced  an  enterprise,  which,  if  carried  forward  with 
the  same  good  taste  with  which  it  is  begun,  will  deserve  a  very  liberal  patronage  from  the 
Christian  public.  It  is  the  publication  in  convenient  duodecimo  volumes  of  a  STANDARD 
LIBRARY  OF  SACRED  CLASSICS.  The  first  of  the  series  is  composed  of  selections  from  the  prose 
works  of  Isaac  Watts.  It  contains  a  sketch  of  the  quiet,  but  not  uneventful  Life  of  Watts, 
several  miscellaneous  Essays,  and  seventeen  Select  Discourses,  which  have  attained  the  highest 
reputation.  Several  of  these  sermons  the  late  venerable  William  Jay,  of  Bath,  pronounced 
"among  the  sweetest  and  most  profitable  sermons  in  the  language."  Those  on  "  Death  and 
Heaven,"  were  the  favorite  reading  of  Dr.  Doddridge,  when  failing  health  made  him  an  exile 
from  his  native  land,  and  he  lay  sinking  under  fatal  disease  at  Lisbon.  Those  of  our  readers 
who  have  never  met  with  the  discourses  of  Dr.  Watts,  have  a  rich  pleasure  yet  in  store.  We 
well  recollect  our  own  grateful  surprise  when,  years  ago,  we  first  stumbled  upon  one  of  the 
huge  quarto  volumes  of  his  sermons,  and  were  allured  on  fr  om  page  to  page  by  the  mingled 
pathos,  sweetness,  and  fervency  of  his  thoughts.  His  style,  certainly,  is  open  to  criticism.  It 
is  too  diffuse  and  sometimes  careless,  but  always  plain  and  perspicuous.  It  is  an  effort  to 
grasp  his  thought,  and  oftentimts  it  is  presented  with  a  finished  grace  and  beauty  in  keeping 
with  its  own  pure  and  lofty  character. 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

The  compiler  of  this  volume  is  establishing  an  excellent  reputation  as  a  literary  man, 
selecting  worthy  subjects  and  portraying  them  with  skill.  This  book  is  well  prepared.  The 
biography  is  chaste,  perspicuous,  and  discriminating  ;  and  the  selection,  as  is  claimed  in  the 
title,  is  choice.  It  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  standard  religious  classics  to  be  prepared  by  the 
same  author,  and  we  have  no  doubt  they  will  be  well  worthy  of  wide  circulation. 

from  the  Albany  Evening  Journal. 

This  is  the  first  in  the  series  of  a  projected  edition  of  the  Christian  Classics,  and  we  earn 
estly  hope  that  its  extensive  sale  will  reward  the  exertions  of  the  enterprising  publishers. 
It  will  embrace  a  selection  of  the  most  eminent  Episcopalian  and  Non-Conformist  writers 
from  the  period  of  Jeremy  Taylor  to  Robert  Hall  of  the  present  century.  The  sermons  on 
which  the  reputation  of  Watts  chiefly  rests,  are  given  entire,  while  the  precious  gems  in  other 
cases  are  taken  from  the  controversies  in  which  they  lay  embedded,  and  presented  to  the  reader. 
What  a  rich  feast  is  the  perusal  of  this  volume  !  If  original  and  profound  thought,  vigorous 
illustration,  chastened  yet  glowing  sentiment,  and  el«vated  devotional  feeling,  please  a 
reader,  he  will  find  all  to  abundance  in  the  perusal  of  this  admirable  volume.  The  life  of  this 
"  Master  in  Israel "  is  written  with  great  beauty  and  knowledge  of  the  state  of  society  when 
Watts  flourished,  by  Mr.  Harsha,  and  will  add  fresh  laurels  to  those  which  he  has  previously 
reaped  in  the  fields  of  literature.  For  the  libraries  of  private  Christians  we  consider  thla 
work  as  indispensable,  and  when  the  series  is  completed,  no  present  by  churches  to  thttr 
pastors  can  be  so  seasonable  as  the  interesting  file  of  the  Christian  Classics. 

Address, 

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Jacob  Faithful.  2.  Peter  Simple.  8.  Naval  Officer,  4.  King's  Own.  5.  Japhet  in 
Search  of  a  Father.  6.  Midshipman  Easy.  7.  Newton  Forster.  8.  Pacha  of  Manv 
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MAY  2  3 1366 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-35m-7,'62(D296s4)458 


251117 


Beecher,  H.W. 
Notes  from  Plymouth 


Call  Number: 

BX7233 

BU 

N6 


